Federal Court Denies WestRock Bid to Dismiss Illinois Genetic Privacy Class Action
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg Law · Aug 4
Federal Court Denies WestRock Bid to Dismiss Illinois Genetic Privacy Class Action
1 articles · Updated · Bloomberg Law · Aug 4
Summary
A federal district court let a job applicant’s class action against WestRock proceed under the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act, rejecting the company’s motion to dismiss.
The suit alleges WestRock violated genetic privacy rights by asking about medical history during pre-employment screening, a practice the applicant says runs afoul of GIPA.
The court said it was too early to decide whether the Labor Management Relations Act preempts the state-law claim and found WestRock’s collective-bargaining constitutional defense insufficiently developed.
The ruling keeps the case alive at an early stage, leaving the privacy claims and WestRock’s labor-law and constitutional defenses to be tested later in the litigation.