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Midyear Premium Increases and Cafeteria Plan Rules
Many employers implement wellness programs into their employee health plan offering. Wellness programs have varying designs but commonly offer premium discounts to participants who are tobacco-free or achieve certain...more
A new and unprecedented wave of class action complaints is targeting a common feature of many employer-sponsored benefit plans: tobacco-user surcharges. These surcharges are often part of a wellness program that charges...more
ERISA requires plan sponsors to distribute SPDs to inform participants of their benefits, rights, and obligations under the plan and describe how the plan operates. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations (available here)...more
Today's new episode looks at the five developments you need to know now, including the new proposed independent contractor rule, the EEOC's new required poster, NLRB efforts to monitor your monitoring, salary transparency...more
Amazon. Bank of America. Citigroup. Dick’s Sporting Goods. JP Morgan. Kroger. Meta. Microsoft. Procter & Gamble. Target. Walt Disney Company. These are just a few of what is a growing list of companies that have offered to...more
Last week, the US Supreme Court blocked the OSHA standard requiring private employers with 100 employees or more to vaccinate-or-test for COVID-19 from taking effect (more info here). With the fate of that standard likely...more
Imposing Group Health Plan Monthly Surcharges on the Unvaccinated - Calling it “a more-punitive approach toward getting its workforce vaccinated against Covid-19,” the Wall Street Journal recently reported that Delta...more
As many companies continue to struggle with low employee COVID-19 vaccination rates, some employers are evaluating imposing higher premiums for unvaccinated employees under their group medical plans. These employers see this...more
For years (and we do mean years), the EEOC has waffled about whether incentives were permissible in connection with a medical inquiry under a voluntary wellness program. Friday, the EEOC issued its most recent pronouncement...more
Last week, a client asked a timely and interesting question. The employer asked whether it can begin charging higher group health insurance premiums to employees who have declined the COVID-19 vaccination....more
For years we have been trying to understand how the EEOC regulates wellness programs. Although we still do not have a complete picture, we are getting closer with the EEOC’s new Notices of Proposed Rulemaking on wellness...more
On January 7, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued proposed guidance regarding employer-sponsored wellness programs and the level of incentives employers may offer employees who participate in these...more
On January 7th, the EEOC released proposed new regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) for employer-offered wellness programs. (As of January 15,...more
Synopsis: For years, employers have struggled to understand what level of incentives in wellness programs might be considered “voluntary” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ...more
Some Q and A. Last week (while I was on vacay), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued proposed regulations on wellness programs and the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information...more
In this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, Brydon DeWitt and Claire Pollock discuss what employers need to know about the current status of EEOC wellness program regulations. [Speaker: Claire Pollock]...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
Seyfarth Synopsis: The EEOC has withdrawn the incentive provisions in its ADA and GINA wellness program regulations. The remaining provisions have less bite as a consequence, especially in the ADA context. But HIPAA wellness...more
Employer wellness plans have attracted multiple legal challenges ranging from HIPAA concerns to allegations that such programs violate federal civil rights under GINA and the ADA. Adding to this confusion, the Equal...more
Employers with established wellness programs that collect health information and/or require a medical exam can no longer rely on the EEOC regulations to justify that incentives provided under their wellness programs are...more
Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the country, Employers wanted to help their employees be healthy, But unfortunately some lawyers, and the EEOC- Limited plans that ask about disability…...more
We recognize that many of our clients sponsor ERISA welfare benefit plans and are currently undergoing their open enrollment process and issuing related participant communications. To assist our clients with that process, we...more
As a follow-up to our recent blog Count Down to Open Enrollment – Some Quick Thoughts, below is a little more detail on how seemingly simple wellness program design changes can have significant legal consequences....more
With increasing employee health costs, many employers are adopting or expanding their health wellness programs. In the retirement plan area, some employers are also adopting programs to assist their employees with managing...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