Many employers have established wellness programs to promote employee health and, in doing so, help counter the ever increasing costs associated with employer-sponsored health benefit plans. Often employers want to establish programs that provide employees with incentives to achieve certain health outcomes, such as smoking cessation or weight loss. Employers must exercise caution in creating such health-contingent wellness programs, which necessarily require employees to disclose health information, because the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the ...
By: Kara M. Maciel
The EEOC is holding a public meeting tomorrow, May 8, 2013, to discuss wellness programs and how the EEOC should interpret them under the ADA, GINA and other laws. This is welcome news to the employer community, who has been left without any guidance from the agency since 2000 as to how it will enforce wellness programs. The uncertainty generated by this lack of guidance has hampered businesses from implementing, or expanding, effective wellness programs.
As we have explained in previous articles, the EEOC regulations, and the EEOC’s Interpretive and ...
* * * *
If you have questions, please reach out to the author(s).
The Workforce Bulletin blog is currently edited by Scott J. Connolly, Adam S. Forman, Greta Ravitsky, Elizabeth S. Torkelsen, and Jennifer Stefanick Barna.
Recent Updates
- Menopause as a Protected Class: Growing Trend or a Hot Flash?
- The Second Circuit Joins Fellow Circuits in Extending Limitations on Mandatory Arbitration Agreements
- Updating Your First Aid Kit: What Employers Need to Know About Opioid Antagonist Requirements in New York
- New DOL Guidance Reiterates Key Priorities for MHPAEA Enforcement - Takeaways for Plan Sponsors
- Shh! Press the Button: New York State DOL Proposes Silent Response Button Rules for Retail Workplace Violence Prevention