Honeywell Fends Off EEOC Bid to Bar Wellness Penalty
By Beth Hawkins and Andrew Harris
Nov. 3, 2014 - Bloomberg
Honeywell International INc. defeated the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's bid for a court order preventing it from penalizing workers who don't participate in a corporate wellness program.
After hearing arguments today, U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery in Minneapolis denied the agency's request to block the company from assessing the health insurance-related surcharges.
Montgomery was asked to decide whether the wellness
program, which Honeywell said was enacted in furtherance of
President Barack Obamafs Affordable Care Act, conflicts with
other federal laws. Saying she wasnft ready to make even a
preliminary determination, she allowed the companyfs practices
to continue.
Honeywell, a maker of products including life support
systems for human space travel and home thermostats, is one of
many U.S. businesses that use such incentives to encourage
employees to submit to medical examinations and receive advice
on fitness, nutrition and other behaviors.
While 80 percent of workers support wellness programs that
promote healthy behaviors, according a June survey by the Menlo
Park, California-based Kaiser Family Foundation, 62 percent
donft approve of requiring non-participants to pay more for
their health insurance.
51 Percent
In September, Kaiser said 51 percent of businesses with
more than 200 employees offer some sort of biometric screening
and 8 percent of those come with an incentive to participate or
a penalty for opting out. Bloomberg LP offers such a program.
In Honeywellfs program workers and their spouses are asked
to undergo a biometric screening that includes drawing blood to
test cholesterol levels and a determination of body mass index
by measurement of height, weight and circumference.
Holdouts are assessed a $500 surcharge on their 2015
medical plan costs, can lose as much as $1,500 in company
contributions to health savings accounts and be docked as much
as $2,000 more in tobacco-related surcharges, according to the
EEOCfs complaint.
Medical Examinations
gHoneywellfs medical examinations are unlawful,h the
agency said in court papers, contending they violate the federal
Americans With Disabilities Act, which bars employers from
compelling medical examinations that arenft job related.
The biometric screening may also breach a federal law
prohibiting discrimination based on genetic information,
according to the EEOC.
gWe are not seeking to stop testing and not seeking to
stop the assessment of the smoking surcharge,h Laurie
Vasicheck, an EEOC attorney, told the judge today. gWhat they
canft do is penalize employees who do not want to go through
it.h
She said the testing would be acceptable if it was
voluntary, but the size of the fine meant that it wasnft.
eFrivolousf Complaint
Honeywell, a self-insurer, called the complaint
gfrivoloush in a statement issued Oct. 28. The Morristown, New
Jersey-based company said the EEOC is gwoefully out of step
with the health-care marketplace and with the core intenth of
Obamafs health-care initiative.
gThe incentives we provide are specifically sanctioned by
two separate federal statutes,h including the ACA, and in
strict compliance with them, it said. gWe donft believe itfs
fair to the employees who do work to lead healthier lifestyles
to subsidize the health-care premiums for those who do not.h
All employees and spouses who use tobacco are assessed
$1,000 per head, according to an Oct. 30 Honeywell court filing.
The company said its intent is to reward non-users by charging
them less for coverage.
Those who decline the biometric screening are presumed to
use tobacco, according to that filing. The surcharge can be
avoided by enrolling in a cessation program -- without having to
actually quit use -- or by submitting to biometric screening by
a personal physician who reports non-use.
Therefs no requirement that employees partake in the
biometric screening program and those who opt out face no risk
of dismissal for doing so, Michael Burkhardt, a Honeywell
attorney, told Montgomery today. About 30,000, or 55 percent, of
the companyfs employees, including three whose complaints were
cited by the EEOC, already have been screened, he said. The
final day to do so is Nov. 14.
No Penalty
Last year, when there was no penalty, 77 percent of its
workers participated, Burkhardt said.
The judge said she believed the company was better
positioned to refund money improperly collected if she
ultimately rules against it than to assess penalties after being
blocked from doing so if she decides the policy is OK.
gWhat is better public policy and who is likely to succeed
are not measures this court is prepared to decide,h Montgomery
told the lawyers. gThere are a number of fascinating issues for
debate at a later time.h
The EEOC filed its first-ever legal challenge to such a
program under the ADA in August, targeting Orion Energy Systems
Inc. (OESX), a Wisconsin-based high-efficiency lighting company. It
sued another Wisconsin company, Duncan Yo-Yo-maker Flambeau
Inc., on Sept. 30. The Honeywell complaint was filed Oct. 27.
The case is Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v.
Honeywell International Inc. 14-cv-4517, U.S. District Court,
District of Minnesota (Minneapolis).
To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrew Harris in federal court in Chicago at
aharris16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Michael Hytha at
mhytha@bloomberg.net
Peter Blumberg