§ 40-6-29 - Health care benefits – Employers – Discrimination against public assistance recipients.
SECTION 40-6-29
§ 40-6-29 Health care benefits –Employers – Discrimination against public assistance recipients. –(a) No employer in the state who shall hire, contract with, or employ anindividual (hereinafter "recipient") who has been determined eligible toreceive public assistance or medical assistance under chapters 6 and 5.1 and8.4 of this title, or chapter 12.3 of title 42 and/or title XIX of the SocialSecurity Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., shall discriminate against therecipient(s) on the basis that the recipient(s) receive health care coverage asan element of their eligibility under those chapters and act.
(b) The department of human services is hereby authorized anddirected to amend its regulations and any appropriate state plan(s) pursuant tothe federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 301 et seq., to provide forimposition of a fine on the failure of any employer to comply with therequirements of this section.
(c) The amount of the fine imposed by subsection (b) of thissection shall be equal to one hundred dollars ($100) for each day for eachindividual for which the failure occurs.
(d) No fine shall be imposed by subsection (b) if:
(1) the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willfulneglect; and
(2) the failure is corrected during the thirty (30) dayperiod (or such period as the director of the department of human services maydetermine appropriate) beginning on the first day any of the individuals whomthe fine is imposed know, or exercising reasonable diligence would have known,that the failure existed. In the case of a failure which is due to reasonablecause and not to willful neglect, the director may waive part or all of thefine imposed by subsection (a) to the extent that the payment of the fine wouldbe excessive relative to the failure involved.
(e) No employer may refuse to provide employee datainformation lawfully requested by the department of human services aboutspecific employees whom the department had determined eligible or is in theprocess of determining eligibility to receive public health care benefits.
(f) As used in this section, the term "group health plan" hasthe meaning given the term in § 5000(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of1986, 26 U.S.C. § 5000(b)(1).
(g) A group health plan offered by an employer:
(1) May not take into account, for any item or services to befurnished to a recipient at the time the recipient is covered under the plan byreason of the current employment of that recipient (or the recipient's spouse),that the recipient is entitled to health care coverage as an element of theireligibility; and
(2) Shall provide that any recipient, and any recipient'sspouse and minor dependents, shall be entitled to the same benefits under theplan under the same conditions as any employee, and the spouse and dependentsof the employee.
(h) It is unlawful for an employer to offer any financial orother incentive for a recipient not to enroll (or to terminate enrollment)under a group health plan, unless the incentive is also offered to allindividuals who are eligible for coverage under the plan. Any entity thatviolates the previous sentence is subject to a civil money penalty not toexceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation, which may be imposedby the department of human services.