Prohibited Employment Discrimination: Facts About Genetic Information Discrimination

There are thousands of companies and employers who can be sued for discrimination but unfortunately, very few employees or applicants are actually aware of what would constitute unlawful employment discrimination.

There are actually many federal and state laws that protect employees against discrimination, and California, being one of the most pro-employee states in the US even has statutes that make it unlawful to discriminate against an employee on the basis of his status, gender orientation, and even medical conditions like AIDS or HIV.

Discrimination attorneys , whether in Los Angeles or any other major city may find another law useful in the continuing fight against employment discrimination. It is fairly recent, having officially taken effect only last November 2009 – but this law shall make a huge impact in employment as well as health insurance.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) was enacted to prevent improper use of genetic information in employment decisions as well as insurance coverage. Genetic information is defined as any information about an individual or his family’s genetic tests or information of a disease or disorder that may run in an individual’s family.

Prior to the enactment of the law, generally, if a person has a genetic predisposition or risk to certain diseases like cancer or heart disease or his family has a history of such, this have been used as basis to deny health insurance or even terminate or refuse to hire a person.

Under Title II of GINA, it is unlawful for an employer (with 15 or more employees) to do the following:

• Any employment decision (hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, etc) based on an employee or applicant’s genetic information is prohibited. Genetic information doe not tell the employer anything about an individual’s current ability to work or interfere with his qualifications.


• It is unlawful to harass an employee because of his genetic information. Harassing behavior includes offensive or derogatory remarks about an individual or his family’s genetic information as well as any conduct or remark that is so severe or pervasive that it has created a hostile work environment.


• It is illegal to retaliate against an employee (through demotion, termination, or harassment) because he filed a charge of discrimination or participated in an investigation or proceeding.

If you have further questions about bias in the workplace, you should contact a discrimination attorney as soon as possible as most complaints should be filed within 180 days from the violation unless extended by state law.