The Upshot of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby Decision

The Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Inc., decided on June 30, 2014, this July will impact the rights of certain employees to obtain contraception through their employers’ health plans and may have even broader effects if the Court’s decision is applied to other statutes. Read decision: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf

The Affordable Care Act generally requires employers with 50 or more full time employees to offer a certain minimum level of health insurance coverage to their employees. Such insurance coverage includes coverage for FDA-approved contraception. Employers that fail to meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act may face heavy fines.

The plaintiffs in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby are family-owned companies who objected to the fact that providing the insurance coverage required by the Affordable Care Act meant providing coverage for contraceptives that the companies’ owners believe might result in the termination of a pregnancy after conception. The owners had religious objections to such contraceptive methods.

The Supreme Court agreed with the owners and decided that the federal government could not require companies to provide insurance coverage for certain contraceptives if providing such coverage violates the “sincerely held religious beliefs” of the companies’ owners.

Although the immediate consequence of the Hobby Lobby decision is that it may become more difficult for certain employees to obtain contraceptives, it remains to be seen of greater concern is whether the Supreme Court’s decision will enable other employers to seek exceptions under other federal laws upon the assertion that compliance with companies to avoid complying with other types of laws – such as laws that prohibit discrimination – on the basis that implementing those laws will violate owners’ “sincerely heldthe religious beliefs.” of the companies’ owners We will have to wait and see.

Spivak Lipton attorneys represent employees on a range of employment related matters, including employee benefits and discrimination. If you have experienced discrimination or a health insurance-related issue in your workplace, contact a Spivak Lipton attorney today.

New Executive Order Protects LGBT Workers

LGBT workers often face discrimination and harassment in the workplace with very few legal protections. In New York State and New York City, anti-discrimination laws ban discrimination against LGBT workers, but this is not the case in many other parts of the country. More than four in ten lesbian, gay, and bisexual people have experienced some form of employment discrimination based on their sexual orientation, and 90% of transgender employees have experienced harassment, mistreatment or discrimination on the job, the White House stated in a recent Fact Sheet.

A recent Executive Order, signed into law by President Obama in July 2014, seeks to improve the workplace for LGBT workers. The Executive Order prohibits discrimination against LGBT federal employees and employees of federal contractors by making two important changes to previous Executive Orders that banned other forms of discrimination, like race and gender discrimination. The new Order is effective immediately.

First, the Executive Order bans employment discrimination against federal government employees or job applicants based on gender identity, which will help protect federal workers or applicants who are transgender.

Second, the Executive Order prohibits employers that receive federal contracts from discriminating against workers based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency responsible for investigating employment discrimination claims, has interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, a federal statute prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, to protect LGBT workers. President Obama’s Executive Order makes this protection explicit.

Spivak Lipton attorneys represent employees on a range of employment related matters, including discrimination.  If you have experienced discrimination because of your actual or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation, contact a Spivak Lipton attorney today. It is important that you contact an experienced attorney immediately as specific time limits may control how much time you have to file a complaint.

New York City Law Protects Pregnant Employees

If you are pregnant or recovering from childbirth, and you work for an employer in New York City, the law provides fairly significant protections. Under the New York City Human Rights Law, effective January 31, 2014, it is now illegal for New York City employers with 4 or more employees to refuse to provide a “reasonable accommodation” for a pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. This means that these employers are required to take reasonable steps to make sure that workers can continue to do their jobs while maintaining a healthy pregnancy or recovering from childbirth. Employers must notify employees of these new protections in writing and may do so by posting a notice in the workplace. http://www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/publications/pregnancy-employment-poster.shtml

Reasonable accommodation includes, but is not limited to, permitting employees to take: 

• Bathroom breaks

• Time off to recover from childbirth

• Water breaks

• Periodic rest for those who stand for long periods of time

• Assistance with manual labor

The federal government may not be far behind New York City in ensuring that workers around the country are given similar protections. While many pregnant employees must often choose between their health and remaining in a job that won’t accommodate their condition, there is currently strong support for a proposed federal law called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which aims to eliminate discrimination against employees and job applicants who need reasonable accommodations for physical and medical conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth. With some limitations, the proposed legislation will make it illegal for employers to:

• Fail to make a reasonable accommodation for “known limitations related to the pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions of a job applicant or employee”

• “Deny employment opportunities to a job applicant or employee” because the employer would be required to make a reasonable accommodation for the applicant or employee

• “Require a job applicant or employee affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions to accept an accommodation that such applicant or employee chooses not to accept”

• “Require an employee to take leave under any leave law or policy” rather than provide a reasonable accommodation for that employee

The federal law would also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for complaining about a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation or for participating in someone else’s case or complaint.

If you or someone you know has been discriminated against because of a pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition please contact an experienced employment attorney at Spivak Lipton immediately to discuss your legal options.