Never have I been proven wrong so quickly.

On January 7^th, the EEOC announced their proposed rules for clinically based wellness programs. The rules, as directed by the 2017 decision in AARP v. EEOC, reduce employee participation in wellness programs by capping allowable incentives at "de minimis."(Examples of de minimis incentives would be t-shirts and water bottles.)

Yet most employers, especially larger ones, find that employees participate in these programs only if they are highly incentivized, threatened with large fines for non-participation, or forced to make a choice between a more and less attractive health benefit. None of these will be allowed, no matter where the de minimis line is drawn.