Caterpillar Workers Advance Class Suit Over Medical Records Ask

Caterpillar Inc. must defend a proposed class action filed by two employees who say they were asked for their past medical records after completing a pre-employment physical exam.

The ruling Wednesday by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois rejected Caterpillar’s contention that the medical records request didn’t seek protected family medical history under Illinois’s Genetic Information Privacy Act. The suit is still in the early stages and it’s “reasonable to infer” the request was likely to result in the employees disclosing records that included their family medical history, the court said.

Caterpillar was also wrong that ...