Utility Sued Over Medical History Form

The Utility Workers Union of America filed suit Thursday against Southern California Gas Co. alleging that the utility gives an illegal medical history questionnaire to job applicants and that it has used information from the form to fire some workers.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that use of the questionnaire discriminates against disabled workers and breaks a state law prohibiting employers from asking job applicants about medical conditions unrelated to job qualifications. The union is seeking $1 million in punitive damages, reinstatement of fired employees and an end to use of the questionnaire.

30 Firings Cited

The union alleges that information on the forms has been used to fire about 30 workers.

Gas company officials denied the allegations, contending that they use only union contract guidelines to terminate workers. The company, which has about 10,000 employees, has used the questionnaire since the 1950s, according to the suit.

“We are deeply disappointed that the union is taking this action. It’s a gross falsehood. We are in compliance with all federal, state and local regulations prohibiting discrimination against the disabled or other protective groups,” said Steven Ramirez, the company’s manager of personnel relations.

Union attorney A. Thomas Hunt said that, under the state Fair Employment and Housing Law, employers cannot make pre-employment inquiries about an applicant’s physical fitness or medical history unless the information is directly related to the job. The law also prohibits general questions on physical condition, he said.

Questions Called Illegal

The suit says that the gas company form asks such illegally vague questions as: Have you ever had medical treatment or other benefits for a job injury? Have you ever received sickness or accident benefits?

The suit contends that constitutional guarantees of personal privacy are violated when employees have to list the cause of death of their parents, whether they have ever had syphilis, and whether they have had trouble with their bowels, difficulty urinating or problems with menstruation.

The forms are placed in personnel files to which many people have access, the suit says, asserting that “such disclosures would be embarrassing to even the ‘toughest skinned person.’ ”

Also named as a plaintiff in the suit is Francisco Valenzuela of Needles, who was hired by the utility as a pipeline assistant in 1979 and fired in 1986 for allegedly falsifying several answers to questions on the medical form, including “Have you ever been X-rayed?” and “Have you used alcoholic beverages?”

The union says Valenzuela replied “yes” to the X-ray question and named the company he worked for when he was X-rayed. He answered “yes” to the drinking question, but added, “Quit 15 months ago,” according to the suit.

Reason for Firing Disputed

The suit says that Valenzuela was fired for not disclosing that he had been an alcoholic, in spite of the fact that he did not drink during all the years he worked for the company and because he failed to list every time he had been X-rayed.

Hunt said the company actually wanted to get rid of Valenzuela because he had sustained a back injury that affected the company’s insurance costs. Company officials would not comment on Valenzuela’s case, but Ramirez said all the questions on the form are medical questions common to any physical examination. The answers given by job applicants are not used in determining who is hired, he said.

Ramirez noted, however, that “lying in documentation, medical or otherwise, is grounds for termination.”