EEOC Removes 30% Incentive Safe Harbor from Wellness Program Regulations

Matthew P. Chiarello • January 10, 2019

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) issued final rules , published in the Federal Register on December 20, 2018, that remove the 30% incentive provisions from the EEOC’s wellness program regulations governing the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”).  The final rules are effective January 1, 2019.  As a reminder, the ADA rules previously provided that a wellness program that asks questions about employees’ health or includes medical examinations is not voluntary if the incentive to encourage employee participation in the program exceeds 30% of the total cost of self-only coverage.  The GINA rules previously provided that an employer may not offer an incentive that exceeds 30% of the total cost of self-only coverage to an employee to encourage a spouse’s participation in a health risk assessment under a wellness program.

These final rules respond to the ruling in AARP v. EEOC that vacated the 30% incentive provisions, as discussed in our previous blog post “ Wellness Incentives Under Scrutiny After District Court Decision .”  Employers may be served well to note that the rest of the EEOC’s ADA and GINA rules for wellness programs remain in effect.

Please refer to our previous blogs, “ EEOC Final Rules on Wellness Programs and the ADA – Worth the Wait? ” and “ Wellness Rules Under the ADA – Will There Ever Be Certainty? ” for more information regarding wellness programs under the ADA and potential strategies for how to proceed with wellness initiatives despite the uncertainty surrounding the incentive rules.

Although these rules are in final form, this likely is not the EEOC’s last word on wellness programs, as the agency issued notice here and here that it intends to publish new proposed regulations by June 2019.

Employee burnout: what it is and how to prevent it

By Mardy Gould • May 24, 2024
Employee burnout has become an epidemic in today’s modern workplace. So much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognizes it as an “occupational phenomenon.”1 While many used to consider mounting workplace stress an individual employee problem, these days, it’s become an employer’s responsibility to prevent burnout before it hurts productivity and business performance—not to mention your employees’ physical and mental health. Luckily, you can prevent burnout from affecting your workforce in several ways. This article will explore the causes and signs of employee burnout and the steps you can take to create a positive work environment where employees feel safe from toxic stress levels.

Form 720 and PCORI fee FAQs

By Mardy Gould • May 23, 2024
If you're a small business owner, you may have heard of the acronym PCORI and the fees that come with it. But what is PCORI, and how does it apply to your organization? Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sponsors of self-insured health plans must pay a fee to fund the federal Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). PCORI is an independent organization the ACA created to conduct research to help healthcare consumers make better decisions for their specific needs and outcomes. It also performs research related to clinical effectiveness. Employers offering a self-insured medical reimbursement health plan, such as a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), must pay this fee by July 31 each year via Form 7201. This fee was initially set to expire in 2019, but Congress extended it through September 30, 20292, due to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 20203.
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