The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proposed new rules that would bar employers from using a potential employee's genetic predisposition to a disease as a factor in work status, according to Workforce Management.
The proposal is up for public comment over the next two months and would prohibit employers from deliberately acquiring genetic information from current and potential employees. Employers who accidentally learn such information would be protected, and the rules would not cover current conditions, or tests for drug and alcohol use. Public and private employers with 15 or more employees would be affected.
If passed, the rules would implement the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, signed into law by former President George Bush early last year.
