Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
Steve: Your argument here would suggest that the court should reverse Griswold. Moreover, oral contraception is used for other things besides birth control. And when used for birth control is more effective than condoms and does not require the cooperation of men. Indeed, your solution essentially says that women should not control whether they get pregnant but rather it should be left of to the men. Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f) pf...@albanylaw.edu www.paulfinkelman.com --- On Thu, 8/13/09, Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com wrote: From: Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: Law Religion issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 7:43 AM I haven't really kept up with decisions and actions in this area, but the Supreme Court held that refusal of pregnancy benefits was not sex discrimination and so it would seem that it would easily enough use the same (il)logic to rule that there was no sex discrimination here -- just run-of-the-mill coverage limitations. Besides, women get the same coverage as men -- they can buy condoms too -- which, one would expect, would be within any deductible amount anyway. I'll be interested to see what those more versed in this area say based on current law. Steve On Aug 13, 2009, at 7:23 AM, Will Esser wrote: I am interested in Listserv participants reactions to the following story (which I have copied below from the following site: http://www.gastongazette..com/news/college-36646-discriminated-eeoc.html ) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined that Belmont Abbey College discriminated against women and retaliated against faculty members who filed a charge of employment discrimination, according to EEOC documents. An EEOC determination letter states that the college discriminated based on gender by denying contraceptive benefits in the college’s health coverage plan, according to an EEOC determination. Contraception, abortion and voluntary sterilization came off Belmont Abbey College’s faculty health care policy in December 2007 after a faculty member discovered that coverage, according to an e-mail Belmont Abbey College President Bill Thierfelder sent to school staff, students, alumni and friends of the college. “By denying prescription contraception drugs, Respondent (the college) is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral prescription contraceptives,” wrote Reuben Daniels Jr., the EEOC Charlotte District Office Director in the determination. “By denying coverage, men are not affected, only women.” The EEOC also determined that the college retaliated against eight faculty members who filed charges with the EEOC by identifying them by name in a letter to faculty and staff. “It is the Commission’s position that the identity of an individual who has filed a charge should be protected with confidentiality during the Commission’s investigation,” Daniels wrote. “By disclosing Charging Party’s name, a chilling effect was created on Respondent’s campus whereby other faculty and staff members would be reluctant to file a charge of employment discrimination for fear of disclosure.” The EEOC asked both the faculty and the college to work with it to reach a resolution. If the college declines to discuss the settlement or an acceptable settlement is not reached, the director would inform the two sides and advise them of the court enforcement alternatives available. _ There are a couple of things that I find fascinating about this story: (a) First, although not explicitly mentioned in this particular story, the EEOC reversed its former finding that there was no discrimination by the college.. (You can find mention of this reversal in other stories on the web including http://www.campusreportonline.net/main/articles.php?id=3235) I am not an employment expert, but it is my understanding that reversals of position by the EEOC are exceptionally rare (and presumably take place as a result of a directive from on high). Do any Listserv members have insight on this point? (b) Although the college modified its health insurance coverage to exclude abortion, sterilization and contraception, the EEOC decision only focuses on contraception. I wonder about the rationale involved here, particuarly vis-a-vis abortion. The EEOC held that: By denying prescription contraception drugs, Respondent (the college) is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral prescription contraceptives. Using that rationale, why would the same not apply to abortion? Was the EEOC simply shying away from abortion as a more
Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
When Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to overrule General Electric Corp. v. Gilbert, the Court wrote: When Congress amended Title VII in 1978, it unambiguously expressed its disapproval of both the holding and the reasoning of the Court in the Gilbert decision. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. v. E.E.O.C., 462 U.S. 669, 678 (1983). So I don't think the Court's earlier reasoning on what is or is not sex discrimination is helpful. The ultimate question of whether the denial of coverage for prescription birth control drugs is discrimination because of sex prohibited by Title VII after enactment of the PDA is interesting, but whatever the answer is, it would seem unlikely to rest on the holding of GE v. Gilbert. Michael R. Masinter 3305 College Avenue Professor of Law Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Nova Southeastern University 954.262.6151 (voice) masin...@nova.edu954.262.3835 (fax) --- On Thu, 8/13/09, Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com wrote: From: Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: Law Religion issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 7:43 AM I haven't really kept up with decisions and actions in this area, but the Supreme Court held that refusal of pregnancy benefits was not sex discrimination and so it would seem that it would easily enough use the same (il)logic to rule that there was no sex discrimination here -- just run-of-the-mill coverage limitations. Besides, women get the same coverage as men -- they can buy condoms too -- which, one would expect, would be within any deductible amount anyway. I'll be interested to see what those more versed in this area say based on current law. Steve On Aug 13, 2009, at 7:23 AM, Will Esser wrote: I am interested in Listserv participants reactions to the following story (which I have copied below from the following site: http://www.gastongazette..com/news/college-36646-discriminated-eeoc.html ) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined that Belmont Abbey College discriminated against women and retaliated against faculty members who filed a charge of employment discrimination, according to EEOC documents. An EEOC determination letter states that the college discriminated based on gender by denying contraceptive benefits in the college?s health coverage plan, according to an EEOC determination. Contraception, abortion and voluntary sterilization came off Belmont Abbey College?s faculty health care policy in December 2007 after a faculty member discovered that coverage, according to an e-mail Belmont Abbey College President Bill Thierfelder sent to school staff, students, alumni and friends of the college. ?By denying prescription contraception drugs, Respondent (the college) is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral prescription contraceptives,? wrote Reuben Daniels Jr., the EEOC Charlotte District Office Director in the determination. ?By denying coverage, men are not affected, only women.? The EEOC also determined that the college retaliated against eight faculty members who filed charges with the EEOC by identifying them by name in a letter to faculty and staff. ?It is the Commission?s position that the identity of an individual who has filed a charge should be protected with confidentiality during the Commission?s investigation,? Daniels wrote. ?By disclosing Charging Party?s name, a chilling effect was created on Respondent?s campus whereby other faculty and staff members would be reluctant to file a charge of employment discrimination for fear of disclosure.? The EEOC asked both the faculty and the college to work with it to reach a resolution. If the college declines to discuss the settlement or an acceptable settlement is not reached, the director would inform the two sides and advise them of the court enforcement alternatives available. _ There are a couple of things that I find fascinating about this story: (a) First, although not explicitly mentioned in this particular story, the EEOC reversed its former finding that there was no discrimination by the college.. (You can find mention of this reversal in other stories on the web including http://www.campusreportonline.net/main/articles.php?id=3235) I am not an employment expert, but it is my understanding that reversals of position by the EEOC are exceptionally rare (and presumably take place as a result of a directive from on high). Do any Listserv members have insight on this point? (b) Although the college modified its health insurance coverage to exclude abortion, sterilization
Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
I'm not sure how paul arrives at his characterization of my response to an inquiry of another in which I sketch a possible way a court could go wrong. Nonetheless, it seems to me that even though Gilbert was overturned by legislation, the legislation did not in fact reach the illogic of the court's reasoning, but rather the outcome of that reasoning. While I think that a court that would reason as I hypothesized one might would be wrong in doing so in light of the dialogue between the Court and Congress(see boumediene), I fear I have seen such toturing of laws often enough to not consider such error to beyond the realm of possibility. I guess I don't quite see how a statute based claim with EP overtones would impact a constitutional liberty-based privacy claim, though at times we do cross those sorts of boundaries. Stev Sent from Steve Jamar's iPhone On Aug 15, 2009, at 1:57 PM, Paul Finkelman paul.finkel...@yahoo.com wrote: ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
Whatever else may be right or wrong with Gilbert or the statute, Griswold was a constitutional claim based on the flat prohibiting by legislation of a form of birth control for women, whereas the EEOC finding in Belmont Abbey is a matter of what the college will fund as part of its private health insurance. Presumably women are still free to obtain contraception on their own nickel. Have we ascertained that the Belmont Abbey insurance policy, and the college's internal policy, permitted men to obtain condoms and/or more medically-oriented forms of birth control (e.g. vasectomies, spermicides)? If so, then there's a live sex-discrimination issue. If not, then the EEOC decision may be subject to question. Vance On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com wrote: I'm not sure how paul arrives at his characterization of my response to an inquiry of another in which I sketch a possible way a court could go wrong. Nonetheless, it seems to me that even though Gilbert was overturned by legislation, the legislation did not in fact reach the illogic of the court's reasoning, but rather the outcome of that reasoning. While I think that a court that would reason as I hypothesized one might would be wrong in doing so in light of the dialogue between the Court and Congress(see boumediene), I fear I have seen such toturing of laws often enough to not consider such error to beyond the realm of possibility. I guess I don't quite see how a statute based claim with EP overtones would impact a constitutional liberty-based privacy claim, though at times we do cross those sorts of boundaries. Stev Sent from Steve Jamar's iPhone On Aug 15, 2009, at 1:57 PM, Paul Finkelman paul.finkel...@yahoo.com wrote: ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. -- Vance R. Koven Boston, MA USA vrko...@world.std.com ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
The PDA makes denial of health insurance benefits relating to pregnancy sex discrimination without regard to whether an employer denies men coverage for some other condition that affects only men. Denying coverage for a prescription drug that prevents pregnancy, a risk to which only women are exposed, may therefore be sex discrimination under the PDA even if men are not denied coverage for vasectomies. Whether the cost of prevention of pregnancy, as distinct from the health related cost of pregnancy, counts as one of the risks and burdens associated with pregnancy the PDA was intended to relieve women from bearing under employer provided health insurance and other employee benefit programs might better frame the question a court ultimately will have to answer. Michael R. Masinter 3305 College Avenue Professor of Law Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Nova Southeastern University 954.262.6151 (voice) masin...@nova.edu954.262.3835 (fax) Quoting Vance R. Koven vrko...@gmail.com: Whatever else may be right or wrong with Gilbert or the statute, Griswold was a constitutional claim based on the flat prohibiting by legislation of a form of birth control for women, whereas the EEOC finding in Belmont Abbey is a matter of what the college will fund as part of its private health insurance. Presumably women are still free to obtain contraception on their own nickel. Have we ascertained that the Belmont Abbey insurance policy, and the college's internal policy, permitted men to obtain condoms and/or more medically-oriented forms of birth control (e.g. vasectomies, spermicides)? If so, then there's a live sex-discrimination issue. If not, then the EEOC decision may be subject to question. Vance On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com wrote: I'm not sure how paul arrives at his characterization of my response to an inquiry of another in which I sketch a possible way a court could go wrong. Nonetheless, it seems to me that even though Gilbert was overturned by legislation, the legislation did not in fact reach the illogic of the court's reasoning, but rather the outcome of that reasoning. While I think that a court that would reason as I hypothesized one might would be wrong in doing so in light of the dialogue between the Court and Congress(see boumediene), I fear I have seen such toturing of laws often enough to not consider such error to beyond the realm of possibility. I guess I don't quite see how a statute based claim with EP overtones would impact a constitutional liberty-based privacy claim, though at times we do cross those sorts of boundaries. Stev Sent from Steve Jamar's iPhone On Aug 15, 2009, at 1:57 PM, Paul Finkelman paul.finkel...@yahoo.com wrote: ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. -- Vance R. Koven Boston, MA USA vrko...@world.std.com ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
FW: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
I don’t know what “dovetails with the pre-Griswold world” exactly means, but I do know that Steve’s analysis does not remotely “suggest that the court should reverse Griswold.” Griswold, as others have pointed out but as is obvious in any event, was a constitutional decision about whether the government may ban birth control; whether Title VII should be read as barring certain private employer does not bear on whether the court should reverse its constitutional decision in Griswold. Eugene From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Finkelman Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 1:42 PM To: Law Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: RE: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance If you remember in Conn. it was legal to buy condoms; but not legal for doctors to give women birth control pills or other devices. Seems to me that Steve's analysis dovetails with the pre-Griswold world Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f) pf...@albanylaw.edu www.paulfinkelman.com --- On Sat, 8/15/09, Volokh, Eugene vol...@law.ucla.edu wrote: From: Volokh, Eugene vol...@law.ucla.edu Subject: RE: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: 'Law Religion issues for Law Academics' religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Saturday, August 15, 2009, 2:51 PM I'm pretty sure that Steve's argument has no such implications at all. Eugene From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Finkelman Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 10:57 AM To: Law Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance Steve: Your argument here would suggest that the court should reverse Griswold. Moreover, oral contraception is used for other things besides birth control. And when used for birth control is more effective than condoms and does not require the cooperation of men. Indeed, your solution essentially says that women should not control whether they get pregnant but rather it should be left of to the men.. Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY 12208 518-445-3386 (p) 518-445-3363 (f) pf...@albanylaw.edu www.paulfinkelman.com --- On Thu, 8/13/09, Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com wrote: From: Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail..com Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: Law Religion issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 7:43 AM I haven't really kept up with decisions and actions in this area, but the Supreme Court held that refusal of pregnancy benefits was not sex discrimination and so it would seem that it would easily enough use the same (il)logic to rule that there was no sex discrimination here -- just run-of-the-mill coverage limitations. Besides, women get the same coverage as men -- they can buy condoms too -- which, one would expect, would be within any deductible amount anyway. I'll be interested to see what those more versed in this area say based on current law. Steve ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
My understanding is that college administration discovered (after a change in insurance providers) that the new insurance policy covered abortion, sterilization, and contraception. Since all three are contrary to Catholic teaching, the college administration immediately requested its private health insurer to eliminate coverage for these items. I'm told that North Carolina law has a specific state exemption which permits a religious employer to provide health insurance which does not cover these items, so as a matter of NC state law, the college was on firm ground. In fact, but for the change in health insurance providers, I do not believe these items would have ever been covered to begin with. (And of course, there is no prohibition on private individuals paying for excluded services on their own; it's just a question of whether a religious employer should be required to pay for services or items which it believes are morally objectionable). At the end of the day, it really creates an interesting dynamic because there is no federal or state law which requires Belmont Abbey to offer priavte health insurance coverage. If there is a holding that Belmont Abbey cannot offer health insurance coverage without covering abortion, sterilization and contraception, then Belmont Abbey will simply be forced to stop offering health insurance coverage for its employees (a result which would more adversely affect staff members, than the faculty who brought the challenge in the first place). Will Will Esser --- Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Charlotte, North Carolina We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light. Plato (428-345 B.C.) --- On Sat, 8/15/09, Michael R. Masinter masin...@nova.edu wrote: From: Michael R. Masinter masin...@nova.edu Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Saturday, August 15, 2009, 5:51 PM The PDA makes denial of health insurance benefits relating to pregnancy sex discrimination without regard to whether an employer denies men coverage for some other condition that affects only men. Denying coverage for a prescription drug that prevents pregnancy, a risk to which only women are exposed, may therefore be sex discrimination under the PDA even if men are not denied coverage for vasectomies. Whether the cost of prevention of pregnancy, as distinct from the health related cost of pregnancy, counts as one of the risks and burdens associated with pregnancy the PDA was intended to relieve women from bearing under employer provided health insurance and other employee benefit programs might better frame the question a court ultimately will have to answer. Michael R. Masinter 3305 College Avenue Professor of Law Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Nova Southeastern University 954.262.6151 (voice) masin...@nova.edu 954.262.3835 (fax) Quoting Vance R. Koven vrko...@gmail.com: Whatever else may be right or wrong with Gilbert or the statute, Griswold was a constitutional claim based on the flat prohibiting by legislation of a form of birth control for women, whereas the EEOC finding in Belmont Abbey is a matter of what the college will fund as part of its private health insurance. Presumably women are still free to obtain contraception on their own nickel. Have we ascertained that the Belmont Abbey insurance policy, and the college's internal policy, permitted men to obtain condoms and/or more medically-oriented forms of birth control (e.g. vasectomies, spermicides)? If so, then there's a live sex-discrimination issue. If not, then the EEOC decision may be subject to question. Vance On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Steven Jamar stevenja...@gmail.com wrote: I'm not sure how paul arrives at his characterization of my response to an inquiry of another in which I sketch a possible way a court could go wrong. Nonetheless, it seems to me that even though Gilbert was overturned by legislation, the legislation did not in fact reach the illogic of the court's reasoning, but rather the outcome of that reasoning. While I think that a court that would reason as I hypothesized one might would be wrong in doing so in light of the dialogue between the Court and Congress(see boumediene), I fear I have seen such toturing of laws often enough to not consider such error to beyond the realm of possibility. I guess I don't quite see how a statute based claim with EP overtones would impact a constitutional liberty-based privacy claim, though at times we do cross those sorts of boundaries. Stev Sent from Steve Jamar's iPhone On Aug 15, 2009, at 1:57 PM, Paul Finkelman paul.finkel...@yahoo.com wrote:
Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance
If Belmont Abbey stops providing health care coverage to its employees, it will be because it chose to stop providing it, not because it was forced to do so. If the administrators of the college believe that it is preferable to leave all employees uninsured to prevent the possibility that one of them might purchase birth control pills subsidized by a health insurance plan, then it really doesn't matter whether its motivation is rooted in religious doctrine or the belief that birth control disrupts evolution; either way the administrators make a deliberate choice. That such a choice is one an employer can make and impose on its employees is part of what sets health care in the United States apart from most of the developed world. I leave to a more appropriate thread the discussion of whether that's a bug or a feature. Michael R. Masinter 3305 College Avenue Professor of Law Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Nova Southeastern University 954.262.6151 (voice) masin...@nova.edu954.262.3835 (fax) Quoting Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com: My understanding is that college administration discovered (after a change in insurance providers) that the new insurance policy covered abortion, sterilization, and contraception. Since all three are contrary to Catholic teaching, the college administration immediately requested its private health insurer to eliminate coverage for these items. I'm told that North Carolina law has a specific state exemption which permits a religious employer to provide health insurance which does not cover these items, so as a matter of NC state law, the college was on firm ground. In fact, but for the change in health insurance providers, I do not believe these items would have ever been covered to begin with. (And of course, there is no prohibition on private individuals paying for excluded services on their own; it's just a question of whether a religious employer should be required to pay for services or items which it believes are morally objectionable). At the end of the day, it really creates an interesting dynamic because there is no federal or state law which requires Belmont Abbey to offer priavte health insurance coverage. If there is a holding that Belmont Abbey cannot offer health insurance coverage without covering abortion, sterilization and contraception, then Belmont Abbey will simply be forced to stop offering health insurance coverage for its employees (a result which would more adversely affect staff members, than the faculty who brought the challenge in the first place). Will Will Esser --- Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Charlotte, North Carolina We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light. Plato (428-345 B.C.) --- On Sat, 8/15/09, Michael R. Masinter masin...@nova.edu wrote: From: Michael R. Masinter masin...@nova.edu Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Saturday, August 15, 2009, 5:51 PM The PDA makes denial of health insurance benefits relating to pregnancy sex discrimination without regard to whether an employer denies men coverage for some other condition that affects only men. Denying coverage for a prescription drug that prevents pregnancy, a risk to which only women are exposed, may therefore be sex discrimination under the PDA even if men are not denied coverage for vasectomies. Whether the cost of prevention of pregnancy, as distinct from the health related cost of pregnancy, counts as one of the risks and burdens associated with pregnancy the PDA was intended to relieve women from bearing under employer provided health insurance and other employee benefit programs might better frame the question a court ultimately will have to answer. Michael R. Masinter 3305 College Avenue Professor of Law Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Nova Southeastern University 954.262.6151 (voice) masin...@nova.edu 954.262.3835 (fax) Quoting Vance R. Koven vrko...@gmail.com: Whatever else may be right or wrong with Gilbert or the statute, Griswold was a constitutional claim based on the flat prohibiting by legislation of a form of birth control for women, whereas the EEOC finding in Belmont Abbey is a matter of what the college will fund as part of its private health insurance. Presumably women are still free to obtain contraception on their own nickel. Have we ascertained that the Belmont Abbey insurance policy, and the college's internal policy, permitted men to obtain condoms and/or more medically-oriented forms of birth control (e.g. vasectomies, spermicides)? If so, then there's a live
RE: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing ContraceptiveCoverage from Health Insurance
In the California litigation over a statute designed to force Catholic Charities to provide prescription birth control coverage to its employees (really an in your face power play, in my opinion, by certain members of the California legislature), Catholic Charities took the position that it had a religious obligation to provide prescription drug coverage for its workers (under Catholic social teaching) and thus was placed in the position of having to violate one religious obligation or another by the statute. But note that the question isn't whether health insurance will be offered, but whether that insurance will include prescription drug coverage. If Belmont Abbey takes a different view of its obligation under Catholic social doctrine, it could, I suppose, simply eliminate prescription drug coverage from its health care plan. That still, of course, would not be a good outcome from the standpoint of its employees, but it would be better than a complete elimination of health insurance. Mark Scarberry Pepperdine From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu on behalf of Michael R. Masinter Sent: Sat 8/15/2009 7:37 PM To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing ContraceptiveCoverage from Health Insurance If Belmont Abbey stops providing health care coverage to its employees, it will be because it chose to stop providing it, not because it was forced to do so. If the administrators of the college believe that it is preferable to leave all employees uninsured to prevent the possibility that one of them might purchase birth control pills subsidized by a health insurance plan, then it really doesn't matter whether its motivation is rooted in religious doctrine or the belief that birth control disrupts evolution; either way the administrators make a deliberate choice. That such a choice is one an employer can make and impose on its employees is part of what sets health care in the United States apart from most of the developed world. I leave to a more appropriate thread the discussion of whether that's a bug or a feature. Michael R. Masinter 3305 College Avenue Professor of Law Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 Nova Southeastern University 954.262.6151 (voice) masin...@nova.edu954.262.3835 (fax) Quoting Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com: My understanding is that college administration discovered (after a change in insurance providers) that the new insurance policy covered abortion, sterilization, and contraception. Since all three are contrary to Catholic teaching, the college administration immediately requested its private health insurer to eliminate coverage for these items. I'm told that North Carolina law has a specific state exemption which permits a religious employer to provide health insurance which does not cover these items, so as a matter of NC state law, the college was on firm ground. In fact, but for the change in health insurance providers, I do not believe these items would have ever been covered to begin with. (And of course, there is no prohibition on private individuals paying for excluded services on their own; it's just a question of whether a religious employer should be required to pay for services or items which it believes are morally objectionable). At the end of the day, it really creates an interesting dynamic because there is no federal or state law which requires Belmont Abbey to offer priavte health insurance coverage. If there is a holding that Belmont Abbey cannot offer health insurance coverage without covering abortion, sterilization and contraception, then Belmont Abbey will simply be forced to stop offering health insurance coverage for its employees (a result which would more adversely affect staff members, than the faculty who brought the challenge in the first place). Will Will Esser --- Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Charlotte, North Carolina We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light. Plato (428-345 B.C.) --- On Sat, 8/15/09, Michael R. Masinter masin...@nova.edu wrote: From: Michael R. Masinter masin...@nova.edu Subject: Re: EEOC says Catholic College Discriminated by Removing Contraceptive Coverage from Health Insurance To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Date: Saturday, August 15, 2009, 5:51 PM The PDA makes denial of health insurance benefits relating to pregnancy sex discrimination without regard to whether an employer denies men coverage for some other condition that affects only men. Denying coverage for a prescription drug that prevents pregnancy, a risk to which only women are exposed, may therefore be sex discrimination under the PDA even if men are not denied coverage for
