CLEVELAND, March 23 — The National Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has filed a Charge of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against BNSF Railway over the carrier’s new requirement that its workers must provide information pertaining to off-duty medical procedures and non-work-related medical issues.
The EEOC Charge alleges that BNSF’s new company-wide medical reporting policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and may violate other federal statutes.
The policy requires all employees to notify the carrier of medical conditions and/or events that occur or are diagnosed while they are away from work. Employees must report medical events or conditions even if there is no reasonable basis for believing the condition or event has any impact on the employee’s ability to perform his/her job, and even when the employee’s own doctor has placed no limitations on the employee’s job activities.
The highly personal medical information that must be provided under the policy includes doctor’s notes, diagnostic test results and hospital discharge summaries, which the carrier has no right to obtain. The Charge notes that this medical information could reveal a disability that is neither job-related nor relevant to any carrier interest, is likely to result in the carrier improperly obtaining genetic information, and discriminates against women affected by pregnancy and/or related medical conditions.
BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce sharply criticized BNSF for imposing the new policy. “Locomotive engineers and trainmen already are among the most highly-regulated workers in the nation,” President Pierce said. “This blatant invasion of privacy is just one more attack in the War on Workers being waged by Corporate America.”
The National Division’s actions were taken in conjunction with the filing of similar EEOC discrimination charges by the American Train Dispatchers Association, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the National Conference of Firemen & Oilers – SEIU, the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, the Transportation-Communications International Union, and the United Transportation Union.