Tag Archives: discrimination

We Support Brandworkers

Attending the 2013 Brandworkers Awards Dinner

On Wednesday October 16, several members of our firm attended the Annual Brandworkers’ Dinner held at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in NYC. Brandworkers was founded in 2007 by retail and food employees who identified a need for an organization dedicated to protecting and advancing their rights. The organization was launched based on a simple principle: that working people themselves, equipped with powerful social change tools, were uniquely positioned to make positive change on the job and in society.

By empowering retail and food employees with social change tools, Brandworkers’ Focus on the Food Chain and Legal Defense-Plus programs have recovered close to $1 million in unpaid wages and compensation for discrimination; improved working conditions for hundreds of workers; and have helped workers develop as powerful social change leaders.

We look forward to continuing our  support of their mission!

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
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Should Genetic Medical Information Be Given to Workers’ Compensation Insurance Companies?

Federal law provides that employers with 15 or more employees cannot discriminate against employees because of genetic information.

Today’s post comes from guest author Leonard Jernigan from The Jernigan Law Firm.

Under a 2009 Federal law called GINA (the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act), employers with 15 or more employees cannot discriminate against employees because of genetic information. That information may include a past or present medical history (for example: breast cancer, diabetes, depression, or colon cancer) of family members.  GINA prohibits disclosure of this sensitive information by employers and prohibits the employer from even making a request for such information. If they have this information, it must be kept in a file that is separate from the regular personnel file.

The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has made regulations, effective January 10, 2011, to enforce this federal statute and allows an action for damages, including punitive damages, reinstatment and back pay, and reasonable attorney’s fees.

In the workers’ compensation setting, this information is sometimes gathered by medical experts conducting independent medical exams, by nurse case managers who may seek to find out any and all medical information about the injured worker’s family as well as the injured worker, or by family physicians who have made non-work-related entries in the medical records.  However, GINA has allowed an exception to the overall thrust of the legislation by stating that if the information is relevant to the workers’ compensation claim, it can be disclosed. The legislation gives no definition of the term “relevant” and makes the interaction between the health care provider, the carrier, the employer and the employee complicated, to say the least. Lawyers who represent employees and employers should be aware of GINA and protect sensitive genetic information from disclosure, and claimants should make sure their physician is aware of it as well.

 

 

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