Lawsuit Alleges Waffle House Charged Tobacco Users Extra Health Insurance Fee

A former server filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that Waffle House charged employees who use tobacco an extra $92 per month for health insurance without providing a qualifying option to avoid the fee. The complaint, filed June 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, claims the practice violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

It states that the company required workers enrolling in its health plan to disclose tobacco use and automatically applied the surcharge to those who reported using tobacco.

The lawsuit says Waffle House operates more than 2,000 restaurants in 25 states and deducted roughly $23 weekly, or about $1,104 annually, from affected employees' paychecks. It seeks to represent workers nationwide who paid the surcharge during the past six years.

According to the complaint, the company offered a smoking-cessation program called Quit for Life. Employees who completed the program by Sept. 30 could receive refunds for that plan year and stop future payments, while those who finished after that date avoided only future charges.

The complaint further alleges that Waffle House did not clearly inform employees in all plan materials that completing the program could eliminate the surcharge, and that the company retained the collected fees rather than directing them to the health plan.

"In sum, these practices demonstrate that Waffle House's wellness program is an unreasonable, revenue-generating scheme disguised as a health initiative," the complaint states.