Workplace Wellness: Promises, Challenges and Legal Questions
Employers have long been advancing a variety of efforts to encourage employees to be more thoughtful about their health, to reduce absenteeism and to decrease the cost of employee health benefits. Recently, however, some employer wellness programs offering significant incentives for participation—or penalties for nonparticipation—have raised legal issues regarding privacy and discrimination and have become the subject of a recent proposed rule from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This session will:
- Provide an overview of the scope of workplace wellness programs.
- Review the pros and cons of workplace wellness programs from the perspectives of both employers and employees.
- Explore the legal framework for workplace wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- Share more about the EEOC proposed rule.
- Explore the future prospects for workplace wellness programs.
Nancy Taylor
Nancy Taylor has advised clients on health and FDA related matters for more than two decades. She has broad experience in areas relating to the Affordable Care Act provisions, CMS reimbursement and policy issues relating to providers and plans, and she has done a significant amount of FDA regulatory work. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Nancy served 10 years as Health Policy Director for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and worked on a number of significant health and FDA laws, including NLEA, Safe Medical Device Act, Hatch-Waxman, COBRA and ADA. She also served as CEO of a start-up medical device company, where she obtained eight product clearances, including securing reimbursement coverage for each product.
