In a case she described as the “mystery of the devious defacator,” Judge Amy Totenberg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta ruled that a Company could not require employees to take a DNA test to determine whether they were defacating on the Company’s warehouse floor. To do so, reasoned Judge Totenberg, violates the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000ff, et seq., which generally prohibits employers from requesting genetic information from its employees.
In this case, the Company, Atlas Logistics Group Retail Services, requested that two employees submit to saliva swabs of their cheeks to determine whether either of their DNA matched the DNA found in the feces. The employees complied but later sued — neither of them came up as a DNA match — claiming that Atlas violated GINA. Having found in favor of the plaintiffs with regard to liability, the case will now proceed to the damages phase. You can read the decision here: http://justiceatwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Order.pdf
UPDATE — the jury awarded the two employees $2.2 Million!