Federal lawsuit challenges use of test based on gene marker found by UW professor

By Leila Gray
HS News & Community Relations

The first federal lawsuit against a private employer by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission could influence the way the nation regulates genetic testing and the use of test results.

The suit has been filed on behalf of railroad workers who allege that their employer may have tested them for a gene marker of carpal tunnel syndrome. Furthermore, these workers allege that they were not informed that they were the subjects of genetic testing. The suit could lead to the first court review of the position that DNA testing by employers violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and several state laws barring such testing.

The gene marker in question was discovered in 1993 by Phillip Chance, chief of the Division of Genetics and Development at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and UW professor of pediatrics and neurology. The marker is for a moderately rare neuromuscular disorder, hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP), a peripheral nerve disease, which may lead to the development of carpal tunnel disease in some patients.

However, as Chance points out, carpal tunnel syndrome is a common workplace injury and genetic testing for HNPP would be of little or no value in screening workers for carpal tunnel injuries.

Chance said he had hoped that the test would be used as a diagnostic tool in a medically appropriate setting, and ultimately as a prelude to treatment to prevent the onset or progression of illness. Its use in genetic testing of employees for the purpose of workplace discrimination would be the last thing, he said, he would ever want to see happen to his work.