New rules were published by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on May 17, 2016, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for employers that have instituted “wellness programs.” Under the rules, employers must make sure participation in those programs is voluntary, and that the programs are reasonably designed to promote employee health.
The rule requires employers to provide to covered employees a notice describing what information will be collected as part of a wellness program, who will receive it, and how it will be used. Importantly, the rules require that employee medical information solicited for such programs is kept confidential.
The required notice must be provided on the first day of a covered health plan year that begins on or after Jan. 1, 2017. Once the notice requirement becomes effective, the EEOC’s rule does not require that employees get the notice at a particular time, but mandates that employees must receive the notice before providing any health information, and with enough time to decide whether to participate in the program. Waiting until after an employee has completed a wellness program’s health risk assessment (HRA) or medical examination to provide the notice is illegal.
On June 16, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) posted a sample employee notice to assist employers with wellness programs to comply with those rules, by offering a specific notice form for use by such employers, and which includes all of the required provisions, along with non-retaliation language.
The Notice is written in a fill-in-the-blank format so any employer can use it by simply adding the specific information into the form provided, and providing it to employees. Employers should note that employees with disabilities may need to have the notice provided in an alternative format (large print version, electronically formatted for screen readers, etc).
The EEOC also has posted a question-and-answer document that describes the ADA rule’s notice requirement and how employers should use the sample notice.
For more information, including EEOC guidance regarding which plan to use in calculating wellness program incentives, refer to EEOC’s questions and answers on the ADA rule and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) rule.
Photo of Joe G getting healthy in the Adirondacks.