Safelite Is Latest Employer Targeted Over Health Plan Smoker Fee

Safelite Group Inc. was sued by a former employee who says the auto glass repair company wrongly charges tobacco-using employees annual fees of at least $1,300 to keep their health-care coverage.

Safelite’s health plan, which covers more than 15,000 people, imposes a weekly penalty of at least $25 on workers who use tobacco products, the employee said in a proposed class complaint. But the company provides no alternative method for workers to avoid the penalty without actually quitting smoking, which flouts the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, plaintiff Kelly Key alleged.

“There is no smoking cessation ...