In 2019, Garrison Levin-Epstein Fitzgerald & Pirrotti partnered with AARP Foundation Litigation to file a class action lawsuit against Yale University concerning a wellness program under which Yale forced more than 5,000 of its employees to either share their private medical information or pay a fine.
The employees and Yale University reached a settlement earlier this year, and this past week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut preliminarily approved the settlement. Representing the class of employees at the court hearing were Elizabeth Aniskevich of AARP Foundation and Joshua Goodbaum of Garrison Levin-Epstein.
The settlement has received national attention, including most recently from the country’s most widely read newspaper, USA Today. As USA Today reported:
“The university agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million to workers and attorneys and won’t assess the $25 weekly fee for four years, or until federal law or regulations change to allow such a program. Attorneys will have 45 days to notify about 6,300 eligible workers and their spouses about the settlement terms. A hearing to approve the final settlement is scheduled Nov. 22.”
Said Goodbaum about the wellness programs at issue in the case, “As an employment lawyer who represents employees, I’m not opposed to employee wellness programs. I just think the programs should be truly voluntary and that employees should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to participate without the threat of financial penalties if they decide the programs are not for them.”