Two months ago Al wrote a column titled: Are Obamacare Wellness Programs Soon to be Outlawed? Truthfully that headline was picked for its sky-is-falling value, in an attempt to generalize one Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit against one wacky wellness program to an EEOC risk for wellness programs everywhere.
As luck would have it, the sky has now fallen — right on the head of Honeywell…and the EEOC is indicating more lawsuits are to come. The scary part here: Unlike the wacky wellness program above, Honeywell was in compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but compliance with the ACA doesn’t seem to get you a free pass on the EEOC’s own “business necessity” requirement, plucked from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which they enforce.
Essentially the Honeywell lawsuit means no company doing invasive biometric screenings and mandating doctor visits or measuring health outcomes on individuals, and that has a significant financial forfeiture attached to it, is immune to prosecution, even if they are in compliance with ACA.Continue reading…