Live data from Hacker News

Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

mercurynews.com

21–30 of 119 posts

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#21

Congress is going backwards! How could they even consider this bill? It's legalized genetic discrimination, and no protections on how the data can be used (or who it can be sold to).

What's the downside? If the info was irrelevant then I'd understand it, but obviously genes are relevant to risk. Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination, I don't see the problem here.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#22

Congress is going backwards! How could they even consider this bill? It's legalized genetic discrimination, and no protections on how the data can be used (or who it can be sold to).

What's the downside? If the info was irrelevant then I'd understand it, but obviously genes are relevant to risk. Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination, I don't see the problem here.

No downsides. Please post your complete medical history, financial transactions, porn history here so we can evaluate your fitness for your next job.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#23
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the downside? If the info was irrelevant then I'd understand it, but obviously genes are relevant to risk. Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination, I don't see the problem here.

No downsides. Please post your complete medical history, financial transactions, porn history here so we can evaluate your fitness for your next job.

Employers already check credit reports, so they know about problems with your financial history. I don't see how porn is relevant.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#24
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the downside? If the info was irrelevant then I'd understand it, but obviously genes are relevant to risk. Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination, I don't see the problem here.

No downsides. Please post your complete medical history, financial transactions, porn history here so we can evaluate your fitness for your next job.

Also, all of your activities both at work and at home will be monitored for compliance with our "Helping Our Employees be Safer and Healthier" policy. No smoking, no drinking, no refined sugar, no red meat, no extra-marital or unprotected sex or your coverage may be denied. Don't forget to do your morning calisthenics: we will be watching. Welcome to the firm.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#25

Congress is going backwards! How could they even consider this bill? It's legalized genetic discrimination, and no protections on how the data can be used (or who it can be sold to).

Well I guess if you cannot legally discriminate on a person's looks, they can use this method. Someone said Gattaca, but I think more like syfi's Incorporated

Rich will have designer genes and protected estates, poor will be locked out of any kind social advancement.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#26
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the downside? If the info was irrelevant then I'd understand it, but obviously genes are relevant to risk. Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination, I don't see the problem here.

No downsides. Please post your complete medical history, financial transactions, porn history here so we can evaluate your fitness for your next job.

Don't worry, the public is perfectly competent to draw relevant conclusions from that information too.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#27
post #15

Meanwhile in Canada, the House voted to ban genetic discrimination, over the objections of the Cabinet (who believe this should be a provincial issue and not a federal one). http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/genetic-testing-bill-vo...

not so much that it "should" be as that the Constitution mandates it be

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then some researcher finds a (probably not causative) correlation between a certain set of genes and pedophilia. Say you're a politician, and one of your opponents discovers you have the genes. Good luck dealing with that shit

Just for argument's sake... Do you think the greater good would be served by protecting that politician's privacy, and that of several dozen school teachers who also carried that set of genes? Or would society be better off if the politician and the teachers were subjected to greater scrutiny, leading to some percentage of them being removed when discovered to be actual pedophiles? This isn't meant as rhetorical, and…

Or we could just castrate them and not have to worry about it anymore.

Re: Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill

#30

Congress is going backwards! How could they even consider this bill? It's legalized genetic discrimination, and no protections on how the data can be used (or who it can be sold to).

What's the downside? If the info was irrelevant then I'd understand it, but obviously genes are relevant to risk. Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination, I don't see the problem here.

> Just as there's nothing wrong with e.g. age-based discrimination,

Sure there is, are you familiar with the Age Discrimination in Emloyment Act of 1967 [1]?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_Discrimination_in_Employ...

Post reply on HN