LANSING – The use of fitness trackers has dramatically increased over the last several years and recent studies have shown that approximately one in five U.S. consumers own a wearable device. Many employers actively support the use of fitness trackers such as Fitbits in their workplace wellness programs. The goal is to encourage employees to have healthier lifestyles in order to reduce the organization’s healthcare costs. Almost half of all workplace wellness programs, according to one estimate, use fitness trackers, and in many cases they are actually supplied by the employer.
Fitness trackers record a wealth of information, from daily activity levels such as steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned as well as sleep time and sleep quality. This information can be shared by companies to their health insurance carriers in order to lower health insurance premiums. But could information gathered by fitness trackers be used by employers to help defend employment related litigation?
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