O’Reilly Automotive Hit With Suit Over Health Plan’s Smoker Fee

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. was sued Friday by a former employee challenging the automotive part supplier’s alleged practice of charging workers who smoke an extra $780 per year for health-care coverage.

The company fails to adequately explain how workers can have these penalties waived, and it doesn’t tell them that doctor’s notes will be considered when assessing the charges, the employee alleged. These omissions flout federal legal requirements and reflect a program focused more on “revenue generation and cost shifting” than “bona fide health promotion,” plaintiff John Hatfield said in the complaint, which seeks to represent a proposed class covering ...