A recent federal lawsuit brought by the EEOC looks at the extent to which a company’s wellness program falls within the insurance safe harbor provision of the ADA. A federal district court in Wisconsin rejected the employer’s motion for summary judgment in the case, and ruled that the program was subject to review. From the government’s press release:

“In the Orion lawsuit (EEOC v. Orion Energy Systems, Inc., No. 14-CV-1019 (E.D. WI)), EEOC argued that Orion required [the employee] to submit to medical testing as part of a wellness program or pay 100 percent of the premium for the employer-provided health insurance… The district court rejected Orion’s safe harbor argument, and held that the plan was subject to ADA review. The court concluded that EEOC’s recently issued regulations on the ADA’s safe harbor provision were within EEOC’s authority, and further held that the safe harbor provision did not apply even without regard to the new regulations. However, the court found that the wellness plan was lawful under the ADA because it concluded that the employee’s decision whether to participate was voluntary under that statute. . . The court also held that there were issues of fact regarding whether [the employee] was fired because of her opposition to the wellness plan, and indicated that the case would be set for trial.”

The case provides an interesting perspective on the applicability of the ADA to wellness programs, and it will be interesting to see if other courts rule the same way on this issue.

— Joe Seiner

Citation

Filed under