Privacy Issues in the Community College Workplace

7. T HE C ALIFORNIA O CCUPATIONAL S AFETY AND H EALTH A CT OF 1973 (C AL /OSHA) The California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 (Cal/OSHA), Labor Code §§ 6300- 6719, regulates workplace health and safety conditions. It also contains provisions requiring the retention of certain medical and exposure records for up to 30 years. 8. T HE O CCUPATIONAL S AFETY AND H EALTH A CT OF 1970 (OSHA) The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the federal counterpart to Cal/OSHA, 29 U.S.C. Sections 651-678, also regulates workplace health and safety issues. 127 It too requires the retention of certain medical and exposure records for up to 30 years. 9. P REGNANCY D ISABILITY L EAVE (PDL) The Pregnancy Disability Leave Act (PDL), Government Code § 12945, is a California law permitting women who are disabled as a result of pregnancy to take up to four months of unpaid leave in addition to the 12 weeks of leave provided under the CFRA. Similar to the CFRA and FMLA, the PDL authorizes an employer to require medical certification from an employee seeking leave. 10. C ALIFORNIA L ABOR C ODE S ECTION 3762 Section 3762 is applicable in workers’ compensation proceedings. With limited exceptions, it prohibits a workers’ compensation insurer, third party administrator or employee of a self-insured employer charged with administering workers’ compensation claims from disclosing any medical information to an employer about an employee who has filed a workers’ compensation claim. 11. G ENETIC I NFORMATION N ONDISCRIMINATION A CT OF 2008 (GINA) This law, codified at 42 U.S.C. section 2000ff-1(a), makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer (employment agency, labor organization, or training program) to fail or refuse to hire, or to discharge, any employee, or to discriminate against any employee with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of genetic information regarding the employee or to limit, segregate, or classify the employees of the employer in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any employee of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect the status of the employee as because of genetic information of the employer. Genetic information consists of: Information about an employee’s genetic tests or those of the employee’s family member; or the manifestation of a disease or disorder in the employee’s family members. Information about the sex or age of an individual is not considered genetic information.

Privacy Issues in the Community College Workplace ©2021 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 44