OMAHA -- After being thrust into the national spotlight for secretly subjecting some of its workers to genetic testing, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. has apologized to employees, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

BNSF President and Chief Executive Officer Matt Rose wrote a two-page letter to "Members of the BNSF Community" that was dated March 1. In the letter, Rose expresses regret for how the genetic testing was handled and says the decision to go forward with the testing "should have been made at the highest level of the company and... fully disclosed and explained to our employees."

"This was not done, and for that I apologize," he wrote.

The BNSF letter comes a month after two lawsuits were filed in U.S. District court in Sioux City, Iowa, contesting the railroad's right to genetically test employees. The tests were intended to show whether employees were genetically predisposed to carpal- tunnel syndrome.

Three Nebraska rail workers are named in lawsuits filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and by the workers' union, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees.

The railroad admitted that it tested 18 of the 125 rail workers who filed claims for carpal-tunnel-related injuries during 2000.

Three days after the lawsuits were filed on Feb. 12, the company announced it would stop the tests.

Carpal-tunnel is a painful disorder of the hands or wrists associated with repetitive motions often performed on the job.

"When the issue came to my attention, it became apparent that this matter was not handled in a satisfactory matter," BNSF's Rose wrote to employees. Following a review, he said in the letter, a new policy has been instituted that will require all significant changes in medical practices, whether related to injury claims or otherwise, to be reviewed by the railroad's executive team. If the executive team approves changes, they will be communicated to all "affected employees," according to Rose's letter.

In the aftermath of the lawsuits, BNSF could also face $75,000 in fines from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for failing to report any carpal-tunnel injuries from September 1999 through December 2000. But later BNSF said 125 rail workers filed claims for carpal-tunnel-related injuries during 2000.

Industry-wide, only 11 carpal-tunnel injuries were reported in 2000. Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp. reported zero carpal-tunnel injuries.

Those low numbers sparked an audit of BNSF's reporting practices. The railroad agency's initial findings showed 15 cases of "willful under-reporting," said agency spokesman Mike Purvaince.

"We believe the railroad reporting officials were fully aware of the 15 cases," he said. "And because of that, we're recommending to our chief counsel officer the penalty for willful violations."

A failure to report violation carries a fine of $2,500. However, if the FRA deems that the violation was intentional, the fine jumps up to $5,000, which if multiplied by all 15 violations would total $75,000.

The FRA chief counsel office still must review the audit and the recommended fines.

BNSF spokesman Richard Russack said on Wednesday that the company has not heard anything official from the FRA and declined to comment.

Russack had said earlier that the company did not report its carpal-tunnel injuries because it could not determine whether those injuries were work-related, which is a criterion under the FRA.

"Which is part of the reason why we needed to do the exams (the genetic testing)," he said.

Russack said BNSF's CEO and President Rose wrote a letter to employees because: "We felt we had something to communicate to our employees about the situation.

"We wanted them to know how we felt about it, what we thought was right, what we thought was wrong and the actions we're taking to make sure that we don't run into a situation like this in the future," Russack said.

Russack said employees reacted positively to the letter.

Still, not everyone is satisfied. The lead attorney for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, which is suing BNSF, said the letter does not answer the workers' questions.

"The letter doesn't do anything for us," said attorney Harry Zanville of San Diego. "It doesn't advance the settlement of the case. It doesn't clarify what they did.

"This is the sort of thing you would expect them to do to make their shareholders happy and to calm the press down."

Zanville said there's nothing in the letter that precludes the company from conducting more genetic tests in the future.

"What it says is, 'We'll decide what we're going to do and when we're going to do it.," he said. "They're not talking about letting the union help decide or the EEOC help decide.

"In other words, if they decide to do genetic testing next week, they'll let us know."

BNSF's Russack said that the company has no plans to do further genetic testing. He added that a new medical policy has been instituted since the letter was sent out, but he declined to give details.

Rose's letter also states that the company will not discipline any employee who refused to take the genetic tests.

The company faces a court injunction that bars it from either conducting further tests or from destroying test results currently on file. Rose writes that once the injunction expires on April 16, the date of a court hearing in Sioux City, the company will make the test results available to employees.

"If they do not want the information, BNSF will destroy its records relating to the tests."

Attorney Zanville responded, "When they say they'll give us the results of the test, big deal."

"Does it say anywhere that they're going to destroy the blood samples?"

The letter concludes by saying that it's clear to the BNSF executive team that the testing should not have been handled as it was.

"BNSF did not intend to be secretive when it introduced this new diagnostic method," Rose said. "The fact is, however, we could have and should have done a better job of communicating to our employees what we were doing and why.

"We also should have done a better job of thinking through the ramifications of using a 'new science' to ensure that it tracked with our Vision and Values."

But the union's attorney, Zanville, had this to add: "It's wonderful for them to say, 'Well geez. We don't want to do anything sneaky. So next time, we'll just coerce you.'"

Burlington Northern, the second largest railroad after Union Pacific, is based in Fort Worth. It was Nebraska's 11th largest employer in 1998.