On May 1, 2015 The Boston Globe published an article titled The Wellness Bill in Congress Raises Privacy Concerns.
The article addresses the invasion of privacy that will be allowed if the bill passes. This allows employers to not only screen potential employees, but also current employees about their own family medical history. Not only does this expose people to admit to medical issues they would rather not disclose, but it also makes it easier for employers to turn down those who have a higher chance of becoming ill at some point in their career. These people may need these jobs more than anyone else for that exact reason. Discrimination at this level is just as bad as if it were about race or religion. There are also many diseases or disorders that are very common and easy to manage with proper treatment, therefore they should not be taken into account when selecting a potential employee, or choosing who should be let go in an office. That can be easily said, but if the employer in question has application A a healthy individual with good qualifications and no family history of disease, or application B a individual at genetic risk for diabetes or heart disease, we can infer that he will more than likely choose applicant A. This type of information is personal and unless someone is willing to disclose it for their own health assessment it should remain that way.
1 comment:
I strongly agree that the Wellness Bill should not be passed. I agree with putting wellness programs into the work place, but feel it is a violation of privacy to have to answer questions about family health. I agree it would be very likely that an employer could use this information in their decisions to hire or promote employees. Perhaps I feel so strongly about this because my father has Diabetes. I would not want to have to let an employer know this. The fact that that I have a higher chance of becoming Diabetic could be used against me and cause me to not be hired or promoted. If an employer is looking at two applicants who are equal in ability but one has a history of family illness, of course they would choose the one that would cost them less on insurance payments and possible time off the job. There is no guarantee that just because my father has Diabetes that I too will get it, and I would not want to be hired or not promoted because of it. It certainly would not be right to ask an employer if they had a parent in prison and make the assumption that there is a chance that the employer will also be a criminal. Making assumptions that someone with disease in their family will also have the disease is not true. I understand that disclosing family medical history could be helpful in creating wellness programs, but I think the risk is too high that this information would be used in the wrong way. Wellness programs are a great idea and a good way to help employees stay healthy, but it should be up to the employer if they choose to disclose information about their family health history. Just like employers can’t ask about religion, sexuality, or race, they also should not be able to ask about family medical history.
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