Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog
Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is a federal civil rights law. It prohibits employers from using your genetic information to make employment decisions. It also restricts them from even asking for it in the first place.
You might be wondering how your employer would ever even find out about your genetic information. After all, genetic information sounds like it might just pertain to DNA.
Under GINA, “genetic information” is defined to include information about an individual’s genetic tests; information about the genetic tests of family members; information about the manifestation of a disease or disorder in someone’s family members; and inclusion of genetic services and participation in such research.
The goal is to protect workers from employment discrimination based on their genetic information. An employer also can’t group or classify workers in a way that deprives them of job opportunities or otherwise hurts their standing as an employee due to their genetic information. This assumes that the employer somehow already has the information.
In real life, this might look like a supervisor learning that you have a family history of a certain disease and making an employment decision based on that. An employer might review some FMLA paperwork and find an unrelated doctor’s note with medical information attached. The employer could make an adverse decision based on this new information.
On the other hand, an employer cannot request, require, or buy genetic information about an employee or their family member. But there are six narrow exceptions to this under the law.
If an employer inadvertently ends up with family medical history, that’s not considered a violation.
An employer is allowed to offer health or genetic services, such as a wellness or health program, so long as the worker gives written permission that it is knowing and voluntary; the employee (or their family member being tested) and a licensed health professional or certified genetic counselor are the only parties to see the results; the employer never gets individually identifiable results; and anonymized data can only be used for the wellness program itself.
If an employer needs family medical history to process a Family and Medical Leave Act certification, that is not deemed a violation.
An employer can purchase commercially available public materials. If an employer finds out through public sources, that is not a violation of GINA.
Employers can also obtain information for genetic monitoring of biological effects of toxic substances in the workplace if workers get written notice beforehand; the employee gives written voluntary consent (or the monitoring is legally required by law); the worker is told of their individual results; the monitoring follows federal or state genetic monitoring safety regulations; and the employer receives only anonymized results.
Lastly, when an employer is a forensic DNA lab for law enforcement or handles human remains identification, they can collect workers’ genetic information strictly for quality control. The goal would be to check that lab samples aren’t contaminated.
If you think that your rights were violated and you work for a company with 15 or more workers, you may have a claim. You’ll want to act quickly on any such claim. The clock is always ticking on the statute of limitations, so plan ahead. You are always welcome to contact one of our Dallas employment attorneys. An attorney can help you determine if you have a claim under GINA.