When Should You Reach Out To An EEOC Lawyer?
Court Vacates EEOC Wellness Regulations and Program Incentives, Effective January 1, 2019.
If you are unsure about future compliance of your workplace wellness program, you’re not alone. Businesses nationwide must make changes to their existing wellness plans following a recent court ruling in which the courts vacated 2016 EEOC wellness regulations. This is effective January 1, 2019. If you’re unsure about the transition for your business, it may be time to reach out to an EEOC Lawyer.
What’s in the ruling?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) protect against the disclosure of an employee’s health and genetic information. There is, however, an exception in both laws permitting the collection of this information. Employers can collect this information as part of an employer wellness program, so long as the employee voluntarily provides the information.
In 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new rule that employers could implement penalties or rewards up to 30 percent of the cost of self-only coverage in an effort to encourage employees’ disclosure of ADA or GINA-protected information.
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) filed a suit suggesting the new rule was invalid because the incentive/penalty rendered the employee’s disclosure of protected health information involuntary. Employees often didn’t have a choice in disclosing this information. Employees who couldn’t afford to pay 30% of the coverage cost were forced to provide health or genetic information.
Last summer, the court agreed with AARP and sent the regulations back to EEOC for revisions. At the time, the rule was not vacated because the court assumed the EEOC could provide revised regulations in a timely matter. AARP filed another motion to amend the judgement. The court agreed that employers still had time to develop wellness plans for 2019, when the rule was not in effect. Therefore the EEOC vacated those wellness regulations, effective January 1, 2019.
What does this mean for your business?
Employers designing and maintaining wellness programs should continue to monitor developments. This includes the issuance of any new wellness program regulations. Employers should work with employee benefits counsel to ensure their wellness programs comply with all applicable laws. Previously, the EEOC wellness regulations were slated for a proposed update by January 2019. However, the most recent agenda sets a new date of June 2019.
In light of these changes, employers have just under one year to revise their wellness programs. As part of these revisions, employers must remove the premium penalties associated with refusal to share health information. Safeguard especially sensitive, personally identifiable employee information and require requests for health details on a voluntary basis. Employees are under no obligation to provide health data on exams or questionnaires for your organization’s employee wellness program.
Do you have questions about the new regulations and how they may affect your organization’s wellness program? Contact the employment lawyers at Rogge Dunn Group PC to consult with an EEOC lawyer. We’ll help you decide how you should structure your employee wellness program to comply with current EEOC regulations.