HR Tip: EEOC update - Wellness programs

Employers remain in limbo on when they can impose penalties or rewards to encourage employees to disclose medical information in health risk assessments. The EEOC had delayed the proposed rulemaking to June but according to the agency's spring 2019 regulatory agenda, it now expects to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by December.

In December 2017, a district court vacated the regulations, effective Jan. 1, 2019, that had allowed penalties or rewards of up to 30 percent of the cost of employee-only health care coverage to encourage employees to disclose ADA- and GINA-protected information.

Employers now have to weigh their options based on risk tolerance until December.