After almost a year of negotiations among congressional Democrats and the White House, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) was signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022. It passed in the US Senate by a vote...more
There is an increasing trend in legal challenges to an employer’s administration of a wellness program and whether that program violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination...more
As voters make up their minds about this fall’s mid-term races, they may wish to burn into their memories how the Trump Administration has dealt, so far, and especially in recent days, with government social programs that...more
If you’re an employer trying to sponsor a wellness program for 2019, then the recent kerfuffle between the AARP and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) affects you. The AARP has challenged the EEOC’s...more
In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted regulations that limit the amount of incentives employers can provide employees to participate in wellness programs under the companies’ group medical insurance...more
As 2017 comes to an end, we are pleased to present our traditional End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we are presenting our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 will cover...more
Editor's Overview - As we have observed on other occasions, the ERISA class action plaintiffs' bar has, for several years now, honed in on 401(k) plan fiduciaries and their decisions to select and retain investment options...more
On August 22 the U.S. District Court in D.C. granted summary judgment to the AARP which challenged the EEOC’s rules governing employer wellness programs. The rules allow an employer to offer or impose on an employee financial...more
Wellness programs are a win-win for everybody – until administrators run afoul of ambiguous rules and regulations. Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group analyzes two recent lawsuits that could impact program...more
For years, employers have been trying to find the right incentives for employees to embrace wellness programs. If incentives are too meager, employees are not likely to participate. If they are weighted too heavily in favor...more
Q. Are the EEOC’s Wellness Program rules still valid? A. The ADA and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act both permit an employer to seek medical information as part of a wellness program if the employee...more
On Tuesday, August 22, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the EEOC to revisit its controversial rules placing certain limits on employer-sponsored wellness programs under the Americans with...more
The ruling in the AARP v. EEOC case may be detrimental to employers and their healthcare plans because the EEOC may either reduce the percentage of its allowable inducement (or penalty) below 30% the employee cost for...more
On August 22, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) regulations defining what incentives an employer may use to promote participation...more
The long-running efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to provide guidance on what constitutes a “voluntary” wellness program were called into question by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,...more
(You’ve been warned.) As I reported Tuesday, a federal judge has ruled that the wellness regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are invalid. Judge John D. Bates of the District of Columbia did not...more
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) must revisit regulations governing employee wellness programs because the agency did not provide adequate supporting information for the...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated the EEOC’s final regulations on the operation of voluntary wellness programs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the EEOC to reconsider its final regulations on the extent to which an employer may offer incentives to participate in a wellness program without violating the...more
Changes are imminent for the Affordable Care Act and a range of other laws and regulations affecting the health care industry. Ballard Spahr attorneys established a Health Care Reform Initiative in 2008 to monitor and analyze...more
A federal judge in the District of Columbia has denied the AARP’s request for a preliminary injunction against the wellness rules issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last May. As a result, the EEOC rules —...more
This month we review a recent Second Circuit decision addressing ERISA plan status as a class member in a securities shareholder class action. As discussed in the article, the decision exposes a potential conflict among the...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is only the latest in a string of federal agencies who’ve been sued recently in an effort to stop their regulations from taking effect. We have the two lawsuits against the U.S....more
As we have previously discussed in detail in several blogs (New EEOC Regulations Provide Roadmap for Wellness Programs; EEOC Issues Final Rules On Employer-Sponsored Wellness Program Compliance Under the ADA and GINA; and...more