The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Of 2008 or GINA, which was signed into law on May 21st, 2008 and is considered by employment experts to be the most aggressive anti-discrimination legislation since the Americans with Disabilities Act, takes effect today.
This act prohibits the use of certain health information to discriminate against workers with regards to employment or healthcare coverage. In other words, employers are now prohibited from asking employees or job candidates to take genetic tests or to provide their family medical histories. In addition, insurers are barred from using the same health information to determine how much workers pay for coverage.
GINA was supported by privacy-rights advocates, who were concerned that results of genetic tests could be misused by employers and insurers. Advocates feared that employees identified with a propensity for hereditary diseases could face more expensive health care, insurance-coverage denials, or even losing their jobs altogether.
All employers with 15 or more employees are required to comply with the GINA.
It seems as though congress has finally woken up and realized what the rest of us have been thinking for nearly two years: this recession is a monster. After the U.S. unemployment rate climbed to 10.2% last month, a level not seen since April of 1983 and after passing through both the House and Senate, President Obama signed into law yesterday morning H.R. 3548, a federal extension of unemployment insurance.
This bill extends jobless benefits to the unemployed whose benefits were set to expire by December 31 in states of high jobless rates (above 8.5%). Individuals in those states will now receive an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits. View unemployment rates in each state.
In addition, the legislation also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses and extends the $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers through June 2010 as long as the buyer signs a binding contract by the end of that April.
In a statement following the signing of the bill, the president said the bill “will help grow our economy, help create and save jobs, and help provide necessary relief to small businesses.” Not to be critical, but haven’t we heard this line more than once over the last couple years?
The bigger picture
While I applaud congress and everyone else involved in getting this legislation passed, I’m still lead to wonder if the president’s stimulus plan is working as planned. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, we’ve now been in the midst of this recession since December of 2007 and despite the optimism on Wall Street over the last few months, unemployment has been soaring out of control across the country.
I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but as far as unemployment in my city of residence is concerned, things are looking pretty dire at the moment. Month after month and day after day, I’m watching colleagues of mine being escorted out of the office due to “involuntary separations” and while I can appreciate congress’s efforts to ease the burden of unemployment, I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel at this point. Do you?
