Progress, But Also Perpetuated Errors, In The EEOC's Proposed Gina Rule Regarding Wellness Program Incentives

Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing wellness program incentives under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA Proposed Rule") in the Federal Register (here). This NRPM comes on the heels of the EEOC's proposed rule covering wellness program incentives under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA Proposed Rule") released last April and discussed here. The EEOC received about 340 substantive comments from the ADA Proposed Rule, and one of many major concerns from the regulated community was the EEOC's piecemeal approach to addressing wellness program incentives because it ignored spousal incentives. This proposal attempts to fill that gap. However, the GINA Proposed Rule still ignores the primary concerns of the regulated community — that the EEOC is effectively usurping the regulations issued by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the