Can an employer discriminate based on genetic information?

You tell your manager about a genetic test. Soon afterwards, your shifts disappear or a promotion goes to someone else. UK law can protect you, but genetic risk alone does not establish disability discrimination. We explain the gap, the evidence to keep and where to take a complaint.

What the law actually says

Two separate questions matter. Was the employment decision discriminatory? Was the employer’s handling of your information lawful? You can have a complaint about one without having a claim about the other.

In England, Wales and Scotland, the Equality Act 2010 covers disability discrimination in recruitment, pay, promotion, training and dismissal. You generally meet its disability definition if a physical or mental impairment has a substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. “Substantial” means more than minor or trivial. “Long-term” means the effect has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months or for the rest of your life. See our Equality Act guide.

UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply UK-wide. Genetic data is special-category personal data about inherited or acquired characteristics giving unique information about your physiology or health, particularly through analysis of a biological sample. Family medical history can be health data rather than genetic data, but still needs special-category protection.

An employer needs an Article 6 lawful basis and an Article 9 condition. The employment-law condition requires necessity for employment-law rights or obligations and Data Protection Act safeguards, including an appropriate policy document. Consent is often unsuitable because you may not have a genuine choice.

Is there a UK equivalent of America’s GINA?

No. America’s Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act 2008 is US law, not a right you can invoke against a UK employer. Genetic characteristics are not a separate protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

When a genetic condition counts as a disability

Symptoms alone are not the test. Their effect and duration matter. Keep medical evidence and examples of difficulties with activities such as walking, lifting or concentrating.

Schedule 1, paragraph 6 treats cancer, HIV infection and multiple sclerosis as disabilities from diagnosis. You do not need to prove substantial effects on daily activities.

Under paragraph 8, a progressive condition can qualify once its impairment has some effect on normal day-to-day activities, if it is likely eventually to have a substantial adverse effect. Mild muscular dystrophy may therefore qualify early. A predictive result without a current impairment does not.

What protection changes at work

Direct discrimination means less favourable treatment because of disability. Discrimination arising from disability can cover unfavourable treatment for disability-related absence. The employer’s knowledge matters, and it may defend the treatment as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

The reasonable-adjustment duty can require changes to remove a substantial disadvantage. For a warehouse worker with muscle weakness, that might mean changing lifting duties or equipment. Explain the difficulty and request the change in writing. Our adjustments guide explains what is reasonable.

When the employer gets your health wrong

The government’s disability guidance recognises direct discrimination because of perceived disability or another person’s disability. You need not be disabled yourself.

A manager removes you from consideration for a supervisor role after a predictive result, believing you have a progressive disabling condition. That may be perceived-disability discrimination even without an impairment. But believing you might become ill at some unspecified future date is not automatically perceiving a disability. What the manager believed matters.

Rejecting you because your father has Huntington’s may be discrimination by association. Refusing a carer’s request is not automatically discriminatory. For a direct claim, the reason must be the relative’s disability. See our carer discrimination guide. Disability-related harassment can also protect non-disabled people where the statutory harassment test is met.

What employers can ask before offering a job

In Great Britain, section 60 of the Equality Act generally bars questions about your health before an offer or inclusion in a pool from which work will be offered. The exceptions include assessing an intrinsic job function, arranging recruitment adjustments, diversity monitoring, positive action, a requirement to have a particular disability and national-security vetting. These are specific exceptions, not permission to collect a full medical history.

A pre-offer question about your genetic test can raise section 60 concerns. Questions about relatives also raise sensitive-data issues, but do not assume every family-history question is automatically a question about your own health within section 60.

After an offer, the pre-offer restriction no longer applies, but data and discrimination law still do. An occupational health assessment is not permission to collect irrelevant genomic information. In Great Britain, a report from a doctor who has cared for you generally requires your consent under the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988, with a right to see it first.

Can your employer make you take a genetic test?

A blanket demand is not something you should accept as routine. The ICO’s genetic-testing guidance says employers should not test workers to predict their future general health and should not insist on disclosure of previous results. Requests relevant to health and safety or other legal duties should be voluntary.

The ICO describes testing as a last resort. A detectable condition must be likely to pose a serious safety risk to others, or a particular working environment must pose a specific risk to workers with particular genetic variations. There must be no other reasonable way to obtain the information, and the test must be valid for that purpose. Predicting sick leave does not meet that guidance.

The ICO recommends a data protection impact assessment, or DPIA, for employment genetic-data processing. It is legally required where relevant high-risk criteria are met. The recommendation excludes an individual GP or health professional providing healthcare directly to you. Results should be communicated to you with access to professional advice.

Health surveillance for hazards such as noise or hazardous substances is different. HSE health-surveillance guidance does not give an employer a general licence for predictive genetic screening.

Ask in writing what information is needed, why it is necessary, the Article 6 basis and Article 9 condition, who will see it and when it will be deleted. Ask whether a DPIA has been completed. Even voluntary disclosure does not excuse unlawful use or poor security. Our guides to employee data protection and workplace monitoring explain the broader rules.

Applicants, agency staff and contractors

Equality Act protection covers applicants and many people contracted personally to work, including workers who cannot claim ordinary unfair dismissal. Agency staff may claim against the hirer under section 41; an agency’s own conduct may also be actionable.

A “self-employed” label does not decide coverage. A genuinely independent business may fall outside the employment provisions, while a contractor engaged personally to work may be covered. Data law protects personal genetic information regardless.

Deadlines, compensation and making a claim

The Great Britain deadline

The usual discrimination tribunal limit is six months less one day for acts on or after 1 October 2026 across Great Britain. Earlier acts normally retain the three-month-less-one-day limit. Acas explains the transition. The change does not automatically give extra time for older incidents.

You normally must notify Acas before filing. Participation in early conciliation is voluntary; it can last up to 12 weeks. Timely notification pauses the clock. You have at least one month from receipt of the certificate to file, sometimes longer. Get the adjusted deadline checked rather than simply adding a month.

A grievance or appeal does not stop the clock. Repeated acts, conduct extending over a period and incidents spanning the commencement date need individual advice. A tribunal can extend a discrimination deadline where it considers that just and equitable, but do not plan around receiving an extension.

What compensation can cover

Discrimination protection needs no qualifying service. Compensation is uncapped and can include recoverable financial loss, injury to feelings and interest. Your evidence and the loss caused by the unlawful conduct determine the award.

For Great Britain claims presented on or after 6 April 2026, the Vento guidance sets a lower band of £1,300 to £12,600, a middle band of £12,600 to £37,700 and an upper band of £37,700 to £62,900. Exceptional cases can exceed £62,900. Those are injury-to-feelings bands, not limits on your total claim.

Ordinary unfair dismissal is a separate claim. On 1 October 2026 it generally requires two years’ employment, and its compensatory award is capped at the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay. The £123,543 limit took effect on 6 April 2026. You may bring unfair-dismissal and discrimination claims together if both apply, but cannot recover the same loss twice.

Your next steps

1. Preserve the evidence. Keep the request, privacy notice and decision. Ask for reasons in writing. A grievance must not delay your claim.
2. Protect the deadline. Notify Acas in time in Great Britain. Ask your union, a law centre or a solicitor about the claim and correct respondents. A union representative can support you in conciliation. See our discrimination complaint guide and tribunal guide. There is no filing fee.
3. Challenge the data use separately. Complain to the employer, then the ICO if necessary. The ICO does not award compensation or protect tribunal deadlines. A civil UK GDPR Article 82 claim requires damage caused by a breach, which can include distress. See the ICO’s role.

If you work in Northern Ireland

The Equality Act 2010 does not apply in Northern Ireland. Workplace protection comes from the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, as amended for Northern Ireland. Do not assume every Equality Act claim or recruitment rule transfers across.

Disability discrimination claims go to an Industrial Tribunal. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland states a three-month limit, subject to conciliation rules. Contact the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas, about early conciliation before filing. The Commission can advise on discrimination; get your precise deadline checked.

UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply UK-wide, so the genetic-data protections still matter. Our Northern Ireland employment guide explains the separate system.

Workplace insurance and private medical schemes

The Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance, updated in March 2026, is a voluntary agreement between the government and the Association of British Insurers. Compliance is a condition of ABI membership; other insurers can sign up. It is not an employment discrimination statute.

Under the Code, participating insurers must not require or pressure you to take a genetic test. Unfavourable predictive results can be used only for an approved test above the relevant cover threshold. The only currently approved test is for Huntington’s disease for life insurance totalling over £500,000 per person. The other thresholds are £300,000 for critical illness cover and £30,000 a year for income protection, but neither currently has an approved test.

ABI members providing private medical insurance must not ask for or use predictive genetic results to set premiums. But the Code does not exclude ordinary family medical history or diagnostic results about an existing illness from relevant underwriting information. Those distinctions matter when discussing employer-provided benefits.

The Code does not authorise your employer to remove a benefit or refuse a promotion because it fears future insurance costs. That decision still needs assessment under employment and data law. If a benefit is denied, ask whether the employer or insurer made the decision and request the reasons.