Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to update regulations implementing the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) as to employer wellness programs that are part of group health plans.  The proposed revisions would allow employers offering wellness programs as part of their group health plans to provide limited financial or other incentives in exchange for an employee's spouse providing information about his/her health status.

 

The proposed rule amends Title II of GINA, which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information, and from making decisions about employment on the basis of that decision.  Title II generally prohibits employers from requesting or requiring genetic information, unless doing so falls within a statutory exception.  One such exception is where an employee voluntarily accepts health or genetic services offered by an employer as part of a wellness program.  The proposed rule clarifies that an employer may offer a limited incentive to an employee whose spouse is covered under the employee's health plan and receives health or genetic services offered by the employer as part of a wellness program and provides information about his or her health status in so doing.  The total incentive for an employee and spouse to participate in a wellness program that is part of a group health plan and collects information about health status may not exceed 30% of the total cost of the plan in which the employee and any dependents are enrolled.  The maximum portion of an incentive that may be offered to an employee alone cannot exceed 30% of the cost of self-only coverage.

 

Comments will be accepted on the proposed rule until December 29, 2015.  For more information, the EEOC has also posted a fact sheet and a list of questions and answers about the proposed rule on its website.