I.B.M. to Put Genetic Data of Workers Off Limits

I.B.M. to Put Genetic Data of Workers Off Limits - New York Times

As concerns grow that genetic information could become a modern tool of discrimination, I.B.M. plans to announce a new work force privacy policy today.

I.B.M., the world's largest technology company by revenue, is promising not to use genetic information in hiring or in determining eligibility for its health care or benefits plans. Genetics policy specialists and privacy rights groups say that the I.B.M. pledge to its more than 300,000 employees worldwide appears to be the first such move by a major corporation.

This one is for all the readers who think I take privacy concerns over the edge. And before you bother with the "nobody is ever gonna try that..." crap.

In a handful of publicly disclosed cases, genetic data has been used without workers' knowledge. Perhaps the best known involved a $2.2 million settlement in 2002 that the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached with the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company. The government had sued, saying the railroad tested, or sought to test, 36 of its employees, using blood samples, without their knowledge or consent. According to testimony, the company performed the tests in the hopes of claiming that the workers' arm injuries stemmed from a rare genetic condition instead of from work-related stress on muscles and nerves. The railroad denied that it violated the law, but agreed not to use genetic tests in future medical examinations.