The EEOC proposed a rule on Thursday clarifying that the American with Disabilities Act allows employers to offer incentives up to 30 percent of the cost of employee-only coverage to those participating in wellness programs or achieving certain health outcomes.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) will be officially Monday, after which people have until June 19 to submit comments. Available now are a Fact Sheet for Small Businesses and a Question and Answer document for the general public.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not said until now whether employers could offer incentives to encourage workers to participate in such programs or whether offering them rendered participation involuntary. The NPRM also stressed that employees may not be required to participate in a wellness program or denied health coverage or disciplined if they refuse to participate.
Many employers that provide health insurance also offer workplace wellness programs intended to encourage healthier lifestyles or prevent disease. These can use health risk assessments and biometric screenings to determine an employee’s health risk factors, such as body weight and cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure levels. Some offer financial and other incentives for employees who participate or achieve health outcomes.
The NPRM describes employer practices that are wellness programs and those that are not, defines what it means for an employee health program to be voluntary, and explains how ADA rules requiring employers to keep medical information confidential apply to medical information obtained as part of voluntary employee health programs.
For example, medical information collected as a part of a wellness program may be disclosed to employers only in an aggregate form that does not reveal the employee’s identity, and must be kept confidential in accordance with ADA requirements.
Title I of the ADA generally restricts employers from obtaining medical information from employees but allows medical examinations of employees and inquiries about their health if they are part of a “voluntary” employee health program. The proposed rule aims to harmonize this law with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which allows wellness programs to offer incentives.
