CHICAGO — CPKC is the target of a class action lawsuit under Illinois’ Genetic Information Privacy Act for asking job applicants about their family medical histories, the legal news site Cook County Record reports.
The suit, filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court, says the state law bars employers from seeking genetic information, and that the law’s definition of that term includes an individual’s family medical history. It says the lead plantiff in the case, Robert Meeks, was asked for the medical history information by a third-party medical provider as part of a pre-employment physical when he applied for a job as an engineer at CPKC’s Bensenville, Ill., facility in December 2022. The suit claims the railroad willfully violated the law because “it knew, or reasonably should have known” that Meeks would be asked to provide the medical history information in violation of the state law.
The suit was filed on behalf of any individuals who have applied for a job with the railroad in Illinois in the last five years, and seeks $15,000 for each intentional or reckless violation of the law and $2,500 for each negligent violation, as well as attorney fees.
A similar law, the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, led to a suit against BNSF Railway over its use of fingerprints to allow truck drivers to enter intermodal sites in the Chicago area [see “BNSF ordered to pay $228 million …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 13, 2022]; that award was later thrown out on appeal, with the railroad later reaching a settlement [see “BNSF settles suit …,” News Wire, Sept. 26, 2023].
Isn’t it interesting that Illinois’ “genetic privacy act” does not apply if the state itself wants the genetic information? I wonder why that is….
Because the state needs the ability to identify and catch rapists, murderers, robbers and thieves who leave their genetic material behind.
I said it 2 years ago. Vaccine mandates will cross a fine line in the need to divulge medical information to anyone, employers or not.
Vaccine mandates were contrary to medical privacy and disability laws. Vaccines did not stop the spread of COVID to others, but only affected the individual health of the person either receiving or else declining the vaccine. Therefore taking or not taking the vaccine by right should have been an individual choice.
All persons losing their jobs for declining the vaccine should be compensated with back pay, interest and penalty.
Family medical history is a health care question and should be protected under HIPPA, however, since the job required a pre-employment physical, only that information specifically related to the physical should have been provided to CPKC, not the family history.
The attempt to use a contracted third party to acquire the health background information is a cynical way for a company to escape a certain amount of health insurance liability down the road if the new hire develops a medical condition.
Line will change depending screen size. let’s just say second sentence.
Second paragraph, line 3, should read “lead plaintiff,” not “lead defendant.”
I think you mean line 5, not 3.