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Just what business is it of theirs when it comes to a woman's cycle? How does that affect anything? Unless they are looking to weed out women whose last "confinment" was two years ago and they think she's looking to go out on another maternity leave. Like they're trying for a way to discriminate against women workers.
I'm a little confused here. If they're asking the question based on some sort of Risk Management metric (i.e., judging a woman's fertility and, therefore, how much time she might spend off the job) this is appalling.
But it sounds like they're just asking the question about last menstrual period in regard to the required yearly exam that civil servants must undergo. Which, if it's part of a preventative health program, is actually kind of a good thing. Sounds like they have better health care than a lot of US workers do. But again, if it's a Risk Managment thing, not good.
Last menstrual period is always a question that doctors pretty much always ask, even if you go in for the flu. The question doesn't seem that outlandish to me, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the intent of it.
I'm fully prepared to be outraged, I'm just not sure I have enough information yet.
When doctors ask, they do have a good reason. It's a revealing question. If your answer is "three months ago," then it's time for a pregnancy test, or possibly time to figure out whether you've got an eating disorder. It's reasonable in the context of an exam, but not sure how it fits into this plan.
The actual PDF was just posted to MeFi, and says they only want a medical form filled out for employees over 40, which kind of kills the maternity leave theory. It looks like a standard enough medical form to me.
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