Genetic Characteristics is an Emerging Minefield of Litigation
As many of you know, this is the required year to conduct the mandatory harassment seminar for all employers with 50 or more employees. During these seminars it has become clear that managers are not aware of the new protected class under the “Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act” otherwise known as “GINA.” Genetic characteristics are now under a protected class.
Two years ago the EEOC published the regulations to the employment provisions of GINA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. According to the EEOC, GINA has 4 stated purposes:
1. To prohibit the use of genetic information in employment decisions;
2. To restrict employers and others from requesting, requiring, or purchasing genetic information;
3. To require that employers maintain genetic information as a confidential medical record, with strict limits on disclosure; and
4. To provide remedies for individuals whose genetic information is acquired, used, or disclosed in violation of the Act.
1.
GINA does not just cover employees’ genetic information. It also covers the genetic information of relations as attenuated as great-great-grandparents, great-great-grandchildren, and first cousins once-removed (the children of first cousins).
2.
GINA is intended to be a broad anti-discrimination statute. It not only prohibits discrimination against employees on the basis of genetic information in hiring, firing, compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, but also harassment on the basis of genetic information, and retaliation where an individual opposes any act made unlawful by GINA, files a charge of discrimination or assists another in doing so, or gives testimony in connection with a charge.
3.
GINA’s prohibition against the request of genetic information about an employee or family member includes Internet searches in a way that is likely to result in obtaining genetic information, even if the information is publicly available. However, if an employer “inadvertently learns genetic information from a social media platform which he or she was given permission to access by the creator of the profile at issue” (such as an employee who posts family medical history on his Facebook wall, and his supervisor, with whom he is a Facebook friend, sees it), GINA has not been violated. Employers are similarly protected for genetic information employees inadvertently disclose during casual “water cooler” conversations.
4.
GINA permits employers to obtain genetic information as part of employer-provided health or genetic services, such as voluntary wellness programs. While the regulation do not define “voluntary,” they do provide that employers can offer certain financial incentives to employees without stripping the wellness program of its voluntariness.
5.
GINA requires that employers keep all genetic information confidential, stored in separately maintained confidential medical files, consistent with the medical information storage obligations of the ADA. There is, however, a grandfather provision for genetic information obtained before November 21, 2009. Employers need not strip that information from non-confidential files.
Take heed! With the rising cost of healthcare, employers seeking to avoid such costs are trying to get “creative.” This area is an emerging minefield of deception that could be costly.
