Huntington Ingalls Workers Sue Over Health Plan Tobacco Penalty

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. was sued Thursday by current and former employees challenging the military shipbuilder’s practice of charging workers who smoke extra fees for health-care coverage.

Huntington imposes a $660 annual penalty on tobacco-using employees covered by its health plan or its critical illness insurance plan, but it doesn’t properly explain that the charges can be waived by completing a quit-smoking program, the lawsuit claims. The company also fails to retroactively reimburse penalties paid by workers who later complete the program, plaintiffs Leo Brown and Richard Fowler said in a complaint filed in the US District Court for the ...