The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has made emerging issues in employment discrimination law one of its national enforcement priorities. Last week, the EEOC settled a lawsuit brought against a California seed and fertilizer provider, alleging that the employer required applicants to submit to pre-employment medical examinations that included solicitation of family medical histories.

Under the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, employers cannot require applicants or employees to disclose family medical histories as a condition of employment. The EEOC claimed that the defendant refused to hire at least one applicant after he revealed that family members had suffered from a medical condition. In addition to violating GINA, the EEOC alleged that the pre-employment examination was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, because the employer screened applicants based on medical conditions that were unrelated to the requirements of the job. The employer agreed to pay $187,500 and to adopt measures intended to prevent use of such medical examinations as a screening tool in its hiring.

Most employers and medical providers that conduct pre-employment examinations are aware of these requirements, and have deleted requests for family medical histories from their exams. In addition to complying with GINA, employers should periodically review their post-offer, pre-hire examination procedures to make sure that medical grounds used to exclude an applicant from employment are clearly and directly related to their essential job functions. If the exclusion is based on a possible ADA disability, the employer needs to fully explore available reasonable accommodations before making a final decision to reject the applicant.