Chicago Transit Authority Unlawfully Requests Prospective Employees’ Family Medical Histories, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action out of Illinois alleges the Chicago Transit Authority unlawfully requests that job applicants provide their family medical histories and uses this information to make employment decisions.

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The 20-page case says the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act prohibits employers from directly or indirectly requesting or using an individual’s family medical history as a condition of employment or as part of their hiring processes. Enacted in 1998, the state law is designed to protect residents from discrimination in employment settings based on their genetic information, the filing relays.

However, the plaintiffs, two Illinois residents who applied for positions with the Chicago Transit Authority in 2021 and 2022, claim the public transportation operator asked them to submit pre-employment physicals that revealed their family medical histories and then used this information to make hiring decisions and staffing assignments.

The complaint contends that during these physicals, which were conducted by an outside medical provider, the plaintiffs were asked to reveal in a written questionnaire whether various diseases or disorders with a genetic predisposition had manifested in their family members. For example, the questionnaire inquired if their parents had a history of cardiac health, cancer, diabetes and other ailments, the suit explains.

According to the case, the provider also verbally asked the plaintiffs about their medical histories and made note of their answers in their respective files.

The plaintiffs allege that the Chicago Transit Authority requests family medical information to evaluate the risk that applicants may have inherited certain genetic conditions from family members, such as hypertension, cancer, heart conditions, diabetes or stroke.

Per the case, the defendant wishes to avoid being held liable for workplace injuries or death caused by inherited conditions and makes employment decisions accordingly.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in Illinois who, within the past five years, applied for employment with or was employed by the Chicago Transit Authority and from whom the defendant or agents acting on its behalf requested and/or obtained genetic information, including family medical history, in connection with their application or their employment with the government agency.

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