Dollar General Health Plan Smoker Penalty Lawsuit Moves Forward

A former Dollar General Corp. employee advanced a proposed class action challenging her health plan’s penalty for tobacco-using workers, with a federal judge’s denial of the retailer’s requests for dismissal or arbitration.

Judge William L. Campbell Jr. on Tuesday announced he would neither dismiss the case nor force the employee to raise her claims in arbitration. The judge’s two-page order, issued in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, didn’t include significant written analysis of the case.

• The lawsuit accuses Dollar General of requiring tobacco-using employees to pay an extra $480 per year for health-care coverage ...