The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking allowing employers who offer wellness programs under their group health plans to provide financial and other incentives in exchange for an employee’s spouse providing information about his or her health status.
The EEOC is taking comments on the proposed rule to determine if it will become final.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) protects employees, job applicants and others from employment discrimination or employment decisions based on their genetic information. Genetic information includes information about a disease or disorder in family members of an individual. There is an exception if an employee voluntarily agrees to health or genetic services offered by an employer.
The proposed rule provides that an employer may offer incentives for an employee’s spouse to provide information about health status as part of an employer-sponsored wellness program. The rule allows an employer to offer financial incentives for an employee and/or his spouse to participate in the wellness program.
The total incentive may not exceed 30% of the total cost of the plan in which the employee and dependents are enrolled. The maximum portion of the incentive that may be offered to an employee alone may not exceed 30% of the total cost of self-only coverage.
After the comment period closed, the EEOC will determine if revisions should be made to the proposed rule.
