Georgia Jury Award Plaintiffs $2.2 million For Employer's Demand They Give DNA Samples

In an effort to find out who was defecating in one of its warehouses, a Georgia company, Atlas Logistics Group, requested that several of its employees have their cheeks swabbed to compare their DNA to that of the scat left on the warehouse floor.

The swab samples exonerated the employees, and they kept their jobs.  The warehouse pooper was never caught, and the employees filed suit citing a violation of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ("GINA").  The GINA Act states that it is "...illegal for an employer to request, require, or purchase genetic information with respect to an employee."

According to a U.S. District Court Judge, Amy Totenberg, the employer's demand for DNA samples amounted to a violation of the GINA Act, and she granted summary judgment in the plaintiffs' favor.

On June 22, 2015, a federal jury awarded the plaintiffs $2.2 million for their employer's violation of the GINA Act.



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