The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued its final recordkeeping rule for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). GINA is a federal law which prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants or employees due to genetic information. Under the new rule, employers must take the following steps:   
  • Employers must preserve any personnel or employment record made or kept by the employer for a period of one year from the date of the making of the record or the personnel action involved (whichever is later). If an employee is terminated, his or her personnel records must be kept for one year from the date of termination.
  • If an employee files a charge of discrimination, or the EEOC or U.S. Attorney General brings an action against an employer under GINA, the employer must preserve all relevant personnel records until final disposition of the charge or action.
Notably, the GINA recordkeeping requirements in the new rule mirror those under Title VII and the ADA. All three laws apply to employers with 15 or more employees. Therefore, the final rule should have little effect on employers who are already in compliance with the Title VII and ADA recordkeeping requirements, and the only additional requirement is that employers must retain any records relevant to a charge of discrimination filed under GINA until it is resolved.

Download Final Rule here