The EEOC’s Final Rule on GINA and Employer-Sponsored Wellness Programs to Take Effect This Month

On May 17, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is the agency charged with enforcing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), issued a final rule changing how employers can set up incentives for the wellness programs they sponsor for their employees.

As previously reported on Genomics Law Report, on October 30, 2015 the EEOC had issued a proposed rule to amend the GINA regulations in an attempt to harmonize them with the Affordable Care Act’s promotion of employer wellness programs to lower health care costs. The EEOC indicated it had received more than 3000 public comments before the close of the comment period on January 28, 2016.

In short, the final rule allows employers to offer financial and in-kind incentives for an employee’s spouse to provide information about the spouse’s current or former health status as part of a health risk assessment in connection with a voluntary employer-sponsored wellness program so long as certain requirements are met.

The final rule applies to all employer-sponsored wellness programs, whether those programs are participatory or health-outcome based...