PNC Financial Targeted by Suit Over Health Plan’s Smoker Penalty

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. is the latest employer to be sued over its practice charging extra fees to tobacco-using workers covered by its health plan.

The proposed class action, filed Jan. 9 in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, challenges the financial services company’s practice of charging employees who smoke an extra $30 per paycheck for health-care coverage. PNC mismanages this program in violation of federal law because it doesn’t offer a reasonable alternative standard—such as a smoking cessation program—that gives workers an avenue for having the penalties fully waived, plaintiff Kimberly Fredrick alleged ...