In a major victory for organized labor and
workers’ rights, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company
settled a lawsuit on April 6, 2001, filed by the BMWE two months ago
to stop the coercive genetic testing of its employees by BNSF.
The BMWE filed suit on February 9 against BNSF and Athena
Diagnostics in Sioux City, Iowa (Western Division of the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Iowa) and was soon joined by the
BLE, seeking "to remedy the illegal, compulsory regime of genetic
testing of injured employees" by the BNSF.
On February 12 Judge Mark C. Bennett, by consent of the parties,
issued a temporary restraining order and BNSF agreed to halt its
coercive genetic testing program which BNSF said it had begun in March
2000. "This order should be a real relief for those who believe
individuals still have some rights of privacy in the United
States," said lead counsel Harry Zanville, at that time.
In the settlement agreement, BNSF agreed to terminate all genetic
testing of employees represented by BMWE and BLE. The railroad also
agreed to destroy all blood samples and records of testing previously
done (when authorized by the affected individuals), confirming the
status of the destruction to the BMWE and BLE, and agreed not to
discipline any employee for failure to comply with requests for
medical information in connection with previously conducted tests.
BNSF, acknowledging the necessity for national legislation limiting
the use of genetic screening in employment decisions, agreed to
"commence written and oral expression of this position to key
officials of Congress and the Executive Branch" within 30 days of
execution of the agreement. The significance of this provision of the
settlement agreement is readily apparent as Congress is being asked to
enact a comprehensive, national prohibition against genetic testing.
BNSF was the railroad Senator Edward Kennedy was talking about when
he said, "genetic testing is a real and frightening problem, and
it is happening right now, by one of the largest railroads in the
country" as he reintroduced the Genetic Nondiscrimination in
Health Insurance Employment Act the week of February 19. Bills were
defeated in the previous session of Congress in part because opponents
argued it wasn’t happening.
"The results of this unprecedented lawsuit are of immense
benefit to not only BMWE and BLE members, but for all workers,"
said BMWE President Mac A. Fleming. "This victory demonstrates
that corporate control of workers’ private lives can not only be
halted but can be completely eliminated."
"This is a major victory for workers’ rights and personal
privacy for all working men and women who should not have to fear
mandatory genetic testing," said Ed Dubroski, BLE International
President. "Not only did all of labor support our cause, but we
also drew strong support from a broad cross section of America,
including the medical community, civil rights groups and Americans
from every walk of life."
"This was a critical case and we successfully drew a line in
the sand to protect the essence of privacy rights," said
Zanville. "However, the BNSF should be applauded for its decision
to do the right thing after this serious misconduct was
discovered." |