Class Action Lawsuit Claims Abbott Labs Illegally Requested Job Applicants’ Family Medical Histories

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that Abbott Laboratories has illegally requested family medical histories from job applicants and employees, in violation of an Illinois privacy law.

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The 19-page lawsuit states that the Illinois Genetic Privacy Information Act (GIPA) was enacted in 1998 and amended in 2008 to protect the state’s citizens from the potential abuse of their genetic information. Under the GIPA, genetic information includes family medical histories and personal health disclosures, and requests for this data are allowed only when absolutely necessary, the case emphasizes.

According to the complaint, the 2008 amendment extended GIPA protections beyond those that had come to be offered by federal law, imposing, among other things, “statutory damages for the unauthorized collection of genetic information.”

The 2008 GIPA amendment also acknowledged the importance of protecting a consumer’s ability to learn about their own genetics “without fear of discovery by employers,” the suit says. Under GIPA, the case states, Illinois employers are forbidden from:

• Requesting, soliciting, purchasing or requiring genetic testing from an applicant, employee or family member as a pre-employment or employment condition;
• Terminating or altering the conditions of a person’s employment because of personal or family genetic information;
• Classifying, segregating or limiting employees based on personal or family genetic information in a way that would deprive the employee of standard opportunities or otherwise adversely affect their status as an employee; and
• Retaliating in the workplace against anyone who alleges that the employer has violated GIPA by any means, including discharge.

The plaintiff, a Waukegan, Illinois resident, alleges that his onboarding paperwork for both times he was hired by Abbott Laboratories— first in November 2020 and then again in the summer of 2022 as a COVID-19 test kit assembler—included the same questionnaire requesting that he disclose his family medical history and genetic information.

The plaintiff states that he completed both questionnaires based on the belief that he would not be hired or that his employment would otherwise be negatively affected if he did not fully and accurately fill them out. The plaintiff also says that, both times he was hired, dozens of other employees were also given what seemed to be the same onboarding paperwork, including the genetic information questionnaire, implying that this request is a regular practice of Abbott Laboratories.

Additionally, Abbott Labs allegedly would not allow the plaintiff to work on the premises unless he completed all of the onboarding paperwork, including the family medical history questionnaire.

The Abbott Laboratories class action lawsuit seeks to represent anyone who, within the last five years, applied for employment with or was hired by Abbott Laboratories and was requested, as a part of that process, to provide family health history information.

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