## Facts

- Orion Energy Systems, Inc. shifted to a self-insured health plan and implemented an employee wellness program.
- The program required plan enrollees to complete a health risk assessment (health-history questionnaire) and biometric screening (including measurements and a blood draw) or forfeit the employer premium contribution.
- Employees who declined the HRA/biometric screening could remain enrolled but had to pay 100% of the employee premium cost.
- The HRA and screenings were administered by outside medical contractors; individual data was treated as protected health information, and Orion received only aggregated, de-identified information.
- The EEOC sued under the ADA, alleging the HRA and biometric screening were disability-related inquiries and medical examinations that were unlawful because participation was not voluntary and was not justified by business necessity.
- Orion argued the program was protected by the ADA’s insurance “safe harbor” for bona fide benefit plans.

## Issues

1. Whether Orion’s wellness program fell within the ADA insurance safe harbor, 42 U.S.C. § 12201(c), such that ADA limits on employee medical examinations and disability-related inquiries did not apply.
2. If the safe harbor did not apply, whether requiring HRA/biometric screening or full premium payment still qualified as a “voluntary” employee health program under 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(4)(B).

## Decision

- The court denied Orion’s reliance on the ADA insurance safe harbor, holding the wellness program was not the type of underwriting, risk-classifying, or risk-administering term protected by § 12201(c).
- The court held the HRA and biometric screening were part of a “voluntary” employee health program under § 12112(d)(4)(B).
- The court granted summary judgment to Orion on the EEOC’s claim that the wellness program violated § 12112(d)(4), because employees were not subjected to discipline or termination for refusing and retained the option to decline (albeit at increased cost).

## Legal Principles

- The ADA insurance safe harbor, 42 U.S.C. § 12201(c), is read narrowly and protects traditional benefit-plan risk practices (underwriting, classifying, or administering risks), not every wellness feature attached to a health plan.
- Under 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(4)(B), employers may conduct disability-related inquiries and medical examinations as part of a “voluntary” employee health program even when not job-related and consistent with business necessity.
- A wellness program may remain “voluntary” for ADA purposes where employees are not threatened with adverse employment action for nonparticipation and retain a choice to refuse, even if refusal results in significant financial consequences.

## Conclusion

The court rejected applying the ADA insurance safe harbor to Orion’s HRA-based wellness program but held the program was voluntary under § 12112(d)(4)(B) despite the loss of the employer premium contribution for nonparticipants, resulting in summary judgment for Orion on the EEOC’s main ADA wellness-program claim.


Equal Emp. Opportunity Comm’n v. Orion Energy Sys., Inc., 208 F. Supp. 3d 989 (E.D. Wis. 2016)