§ 40-6-29. Healthcare benefits — Employers — Discrimination against public assistance recipients.
(a) No employer in the state who shall hire, contract with, or employ an individual (hereinafter
"recipient�) who has been determined eligible to receive public assistance or medical
assistance under chapters 6 and 5.1 and 8.4 of this title, or chapter 12.3 of title 42 and/or Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., shall discriminate against the recipient(s) on the basis that the recipient(s)
receive healthcare coverage as an element of their eligibility under those chapters
and act.
(b) The department of human services is hereby authorized and directed to amend its regulations
and any appropriate state plan(s) pursuant to the federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 301 et seq., to provide for imposition of a fine on the failure of any employer to comply
with the requirements of this section.
(c) The amount of the fine imposed by subsection (b) of this section shall be equal to
one hundred dollars ($100) for each day for each individual 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 willful neglect; and
(2) The failure is corrected during the thirty-day (30) period (or such period as the
director of the department of human services may determine appropriate) beginning
on the first day any of the individuals upon whom the fine is imposed know, or exercising
reasonable diligence would have known, that the failure existed. In the case of a
failure due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, the director may waive
part or all of the fine imposed by subsection (a) to the extent that the payment of
the fine would be excessive relative to the failure involved.
(e) No employer may refuse to provide employee data information lawfully requested by
the department of human services about specific employees whom the department had
determined eligible, or is in the process of determining eligibility, to receive public
healthcare benefits.
(f) As used in this section, the term "group health plan� has the meaning given the term
in § 5000(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 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 be furnished to a recipient
at the time the recipient is covered under the plan by reason of the current employment
of that recipient (or the recipient's spouse), that the recipient is entitled to healthcare
coverage as an element of their eligibility; and
(2) Shall provide that any recipient, and any recipient's spouse and minor dependents,
shall be entitled to the same benefits under the plan under the same conditions as
any employee, and the spouse and dependents of the employee.
(h) It is unlawful for an employer to offer any financial or other incentive for a recipient
not to enroll (or to terminate enrollment) under a group health plan, unless the incentive
is also offered to all individuals who are eligible for coverage under the plan. Any
entity that violates the previous sentence is subject to a civil money penalty not
to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation, which may be imposed
by the department of human services.