Date: 10/28/2008
By TOM MURPHY
AP Business Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Wellness programs can spawn some Big Brother-like fears among employees who may worry that they give the boss too much information about health problems and pricey treatments.
But federal laws and program setups help prevent these programs from yielding a treasure trove of confidential information your boss can use against you.
Companies must keep employee medical information confidential and separate from personnel files, said Mark Kittaka, a labor and employment attorney with the law firm Barnes & Thornburg.
Employers can share this information with managers only on a need-to-know basis. For instance, a manager may need to make accommodations for an employee’s condition at work.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires this protection. It also tells employers they can’t discriminate against someone based on “their status as a qualified individual with a disability,” Kittaka said.
Your boss cannot fire you simply because he sees you as an expensive medical risk.
Companies that hire an outside firm to handle their wellness program add another barrier separating them from confidential information.
Your boss also may not want to know too much about you. Knowledge of an employee’s disability or condition leaves a company vulnerable if it fires someone and then gets slapped with a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Kittaka said.
Finding out too much means the company can’t argue that it didn’t know about the disability.
“You may get information that you didn’t really want to know,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Laws help limit use of wellness program data
Posted on 28th October 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized
ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, confidentiality, disability and employment, discrimination, employee medical information, medical privacy, wellness programs
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