New York Hospital Sued Over Health Plan Tobacco Use Penalty (1)

A Glens Falls Hospital employee filed a proposed class action saying the New York-based hospital wrongly charges employees who smoke more for health-care coverage without giving them a legally compliant way to avoid the penalty.

The lawsuit takes aim at the hospital’s alleged practice of requiring tobacco-using employees to pay penalties ranging between $260 and $1,040 each year to keep their health insurance coverage. These workers aren’t given any alternative for having the penalty waived beyond quitting smoking, which flouts the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to the lawsuit.

“There is no smoking cessation program, waiver, ...