The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act bans employers from asking employees or job candidates to take genetic tests or disclose the results of genetic tests already completed.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will assume responsibility for enforcing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).

GINA, signed into law in May 2008, prohibits discrimination by health insurers and employers based on individuals’ genetic information. Genetic information includes the results of genetic tests to determine whether someone is at increased risk of acquiring a condition (such as some forms of breast cancer) in the future, as well as an individual’s family medical history.“

The interesting aspect of this act is the impact it may have on social networking groups like Facebook and MySpaace. Since individuals may divulge information that could be used by employers to make determinations about an employee.

The law contains exceptions for managers who overhear an employee discussing a medical condition
at work – called the “watercooler exemption” – or from learning about a worker’s family medical history through commercially and publicly available means, such as a newspaper obituary.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is in charge of enforcing the law, has sought input on whether to treat information on Web sites as commercially and publicly available data.