There is an increasing trend in legal challenges to an employer’s administration of a wellness program and whether that program violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination...more
Defining “wellness” for any one person is no simple task and neither is deciphering a given wellness program’s compliance under the law. In 2016, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its final...more
This is Part II of our blog post on employer wellness planning for 2019. Part I of our blog post explained the ongoing saga between AARP and the EEOC with respect to the ADA and GINA final regulations. We discussed that the...more
If you’re an employer trying to sponsor a wellness program for 2019, then the recent kerfuffle between the AARP and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) affects you. The AARP has challenged the EEOC’s...more
Wellness programs are governed by overlapping and, at times, maddeningly inconsistent regulations and agency guidance. Litigation challenging the wellness program rules issued by the EEOC in 2016 has added another layer of...more
Most companies are genuinely concerned about their employees’ health and well-being. In an effort to incentivize employees to share in that concern, many companies have instituted wellness programs. Significantly, due to a...more
Employers sponsoring wellness plans may see changes to the regulations authorizing these programs over the next year in light of a recent federal district court decision. Background - Last summer, a federal district...more
In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted regulations that limit the amount of incentives employers can provide employees to participate in wellness programs under the companies’ group medical insurance...more
On May 16, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued regulations governing the treatment of wellness programs under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”), as well as under the...more
As we alluded in our “Preparing for the Unknown: Open Enrollment 2018” blog post, employers that are finalizing their employee benefit plan designs in advance of the 2018 plan year would be well-advised to monitor the...more
As we reported previously, on August 22, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia directed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to reconsider its regulations on employer wellness programs under the...more
On August 22 the U.S. District Court in D.C. granted summary judgment to the AARP which challenged the EEOC’s rules governing employer wellness programs. The rules allow an employer to offer or impose on an employee financial...more
On August 22, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued its decision in the American Association of Retired Persons, Inc.’s (AARP) challenge to the wellness program regulations issued by the U.S. Equal...more
For years, employers have been trying to find the right incentives for employees to embrace wellness programs. If incentives are too meager, employees are not likely to participate. If they are weighted too heavily in favor...more
On August 22, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) regulations defining what incentives an employer may use to promote participation...more
We previously reported that AARP was attempting to stop the EEOC’s final wellness program rules under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) from taking effect on...more
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) must revisit regulations governing employee wellness programs because the agency did not provide adequate supporting information for the...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated the EEOC’s final regulations on the operation of voluntary wellness programs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the EEOC to reconsider its final regulations on the extent to which an employer may offer incentives to participate in a wellness program without violating the...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judge Bates) has denied AARP’s request to block the implementation of the EEOC’s final wellness regulations pending a decision on the merits. As we have discussed...more
As we have previously discussed in detail in several blogs (New EEOC Regulations Provide Roadmap for Wellness Programs; EEOC Issues Final Rules On Employer-Sponsored Wellness Program Compliance Under the ADA and GINA; and...more