Obamacare: The EEOC is suing corporations which are in compliance with the healthcare law?

 Even as the Supreme Court readies itself to hear an Obamacare challenge on whether or not the Federal exchanges can hand out subsidies it appears as if another challenge is going to making its way into the court system.

  This time the challenge is coming from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and it is aimed at several corporations even though they are in compliance with the law. The EEOC is claiming the provision in Obamacare which allows corporations to create “workplace wellness” programs violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

  This is what the lawsuit is apparently based on:

Obamacare allows financial incentives for workers taking part in workplace wellness programs of up to 50 percent of their monthly premiums, deductibles, and other costs. That translates into hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in extra annual costs for those who do not participate.

Typically, participation means filling out detailed health questionnaires, undergoing medical screenings, and in some cases attending weight-loss or smoking-cessation programs.

One of the arguments presented in the lawsuit against three employers is that requiring medical testing violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

That 1990 law, according to employment-law attorney Joseph Lazzarotti of Jackson Lewis P.C. in Morristown, N.J., largely prohibits requiring medical tests as part of employment.

“You can’t make medical inquiries unless it’s consistent with job-necessity, or part of a voluntary wellness program,” he said.

The lawsuits are based on the view that it is no longer voluntary if employees face up to $4,000 in penalties for non-participation, loss of insurance or even their jobs.

  That is an interesting argument but I am not sure if it will hold up, after all I never though the Supreme Court would allow the Federal government to penalize an American citizen for not buying a product but they did.

  Needless to say the CEOs of these corporations are not happy they are being sued by the Obama regime for being in compliance with Obamacare and they are threatening to withdraw support for the law–for whatever good that will do at this point in time.

Leading U.S. CEOs, angered by the Obama administration’s challenge to certain “workplace wellness” programs, are threatening to side with anti-Obamacare forces unless the government backs off, according to people familiar with the matter.

The lawsuits infuriated some large employers so much that they are considering aligning themselves with Obama’s opponents, according to people familiar with the executives’ thinking.

“The fact that the EEOC sued is shocking to our members,” said Maria Ghazal, vice-president and counsel at the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives of more than 200 large U.S. corporations. “They don’t understand why a plan in compliance with the ACA (Affordable Care Act) is the target of a lawsuit,” she said. “This is a major issue to our members.”

Employers see the lawsuits as reneging on the administration’s commitment to an important part of the healthcare reform.

On Nov. 14, Roundtable president John Engler sent a letter to the Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services cabinet secretaries who oversee Obamacare asking them to “thwart all future inappropriate actions against employers who are complying with” the law’s wellness rules, and warning of “a chilling effect across the country.”

  It almost sounds like the Obama regime was involved in another deception in order to gain support for this legislation–does it not–this time on those “stupid American” corporations we know the Democrats hold in such disregard. I guess we will have to wait and see how this one turns out.