Health and wellness incentive programs have major benefits both for employees’ health and in reducing companies’ spending on health care. More and more companies are implementing health and wellness incentive programs every day. When considering the legality surrounding health and wellness incentive programs there are several laws that must be taken into consideration. Here are four examples of some of those laws. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was signed into law in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. ADEA forbids age-based discrimination against employees and applicants with respect to benefits. As a result of ADEA’s protections, if a wellness program decreases rewards, terminates, or in any other way discriminates against employees who are over 40, the program could be found to be in violation of ADEA. The 2008 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is an Act of Congress that prohibits employers from discriminating against their employees in regard to compensation, conditions, terms, or privileges of employment on the basis of “genetic information”. GINA’s prohibitions include: An employer must maintain all genetic information as confidential medical records. An employer may not require, request, or purchase genetic information. Any disclosure of genetic information must be subject to strict limits. The […]
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