In October 2016, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) sought an injunction against the implementation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) final rules on wellness programs, alleging that the...more
This is Part II of our blog post on employer wellness planning for 2019. Part I of our blog post explained the ongoing saga between AARP and the EEOC with respect to the ADA and GINA final regulations. We discussed that the...more
Employers who sponsor wellness programs that offer incentives once again face legal uncertainty. On December 20, 2017, in AARP v. United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States District Court for...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
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule is Finally Dead or Is It? The U.S. Department of Labor (“DoL”) permitted the Fifth Circuit’s decision overruling the fiduciary rule in its entirety on a nationwide basis due to...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
Most companies are genuinely concerned about their employees’ health and well-being. In an effort to incentivize employees to share in that concern, many companies have instituted wellness programs. Significantly, due to a...more
Despite a rapidly growing and changing compliance landscape, employers have continued to offer wellness programs in an effort to control rising health-care costs and improve employees’ overall health and productivity. In...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
Though still a year away, employee health plans are in for significant change beginning January 1, 2019. This modification is the result of a longstanding argument about plan administration. ...more
On December 20, 2017, Judge John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order vacating the incentive provisions of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...more
As we alluded in our “Preparing for the Unknown: Open Enrollment 2018” blog post, employers that are finalizing their employee benefit plan designs in advance of the 2018 plan year would be well-advised to monitor the...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
As we reported previously, on August 22, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia directed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to reconsider its regulations on employer wellness programs under the...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
On August 22, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued its decision in the American Association of Retired Persons, Inc.’s (AARP) challenge to the wellness program regulations issued by the U.S. Equal...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
(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
Editor’s Overview - In 2016, we saw a considerable uptick in the number and variety of excessive fee lawsuits commenced against plan fiduciaries of defined contribution plans. We begin the year by taking a look at these...more