What is Genetic Discrimination?

Massachusetts General Laws, ch. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B §4(19) prohibits Genetic Discrimination:

19. (a) It shall be unlawful discrimination for any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or licensing agency to

(1) refuse to hire or employ, represent, grant membership to, or license a person on the basis of that person’s genetic information;

(2) collect, solicit or require disclosure of genetic information from any person as a condition of employment, or membership, or of obtaining a license;

(3) solicit submission to, require, or administer a genetic test to any person as a condition of employment, membership, or obtaining a license;

(4) offer a person an inducement to undergo a genetic test or otherwise disclose genetic information;

(5) question a person about their genetic information or genetic information concerning their family members, or inquire about previous genetic testing;

(6) use the results of a genetic test or other genetic information to affect the terms, conditions, compensation or privileges of a person’s employment, representation, membership, or the ability to obtain a license;

(7) terminate or refuse to renew a person’s employment, representation, membership, or license on the basis of a genetic test or other genetic information; or

(8) otherwise seek, receive, or maintain genetic information for non-medical purposes. 

The statute defines "genetic information” as “any written, recorded individually identifiable result of a genetic test . . . or explanation of such a result or family history pertaining to the presence, absence, variation, alteration, or modification of a human gene or genes.” Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B, sec. 1 (22). “Genetic test” is defined as “any tests of human DNA, RNA, mitochondrial DNA, chromosomes or proteins for the purpose of identifying genes or genetic abnormalities, or the presence or absence of inherited or acquired characteristics in genetic material.” Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B, sec. 1 (23).

Links:

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Genetic Testing Fact Sheet

National Workrights Institute, Genetic Discrimination Fact Sheet

National Partnership for Women and Families

State-by-state Data Base of Genetic Discrimination Statutory Prohibitions 

Council for Responsible Genetics

Genetic Information and the Workplace - Report by Department of Labor, EEOC, et al, January 20. 1998
Existing Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws and How They Apply to Genetics, National Human Genome Research Institute

Genetics and Employment, National Conference of State Legislatures