A New Kind Of Discrimination “To make a distinction in favor of or against a person on the basis of the group or class (or now, genes?) to which the person belongs, rather than according to merit.” With technology ever advancing, what will come out of knowing all about one’s genetic make-up and potential future? Health insurance will most likely always be increasing. With Employers often paying the majority of an employee’s insurance premium, how will employment be affected by health insurance discrimination? These questions and others are on the minds of people keeping up with the Human Genome Project and discrimination laws. First, though, we have to find out what current law allows for, then the possibilities of what can happen, and lastly what needs to be done.“Since enactment in 1983, Minnesota is the only state with a statute that limits an employer’s access to an employee’s non-job-related medical information.” This is important to note because this shows that there are no current laws in most states keeping an employer from knowing certain medical information, which can cause discrimination without the applicant’s knowledge. Although, At least thirteen states have enacted considerably varied laws providing additional protections against discrimination in the workplace on the basis of genetic information. No current federal statute explicitly addresses genetic discrimination by employers. However, existing federal laws, which are designed to prohibit discrimination in employment based on certain disability characteristics that may be linked to genetic traits, provide protections against genetic discrimination. In particular, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should be interpreted to prohibit discrimination in employment based on genetic characteristics. “The ADA contains broad language prohibiting discrimination against a qualified ‘individual with a di...
