The Supreme Court of the United States recently decided in a case generally referred to as the Hobby Lobby case that closely-held corporations whose owners have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptives are not required to provide that coverage to satisfy PPACA requirements. We still do not know how an employer that wishes to claim this exemption based on its religious beliefs will do this. Despite this missing information, the regulatory agencies have issued a reminder that if an employer with religious objections to covering contraceptives now eliminates or reduces that coverage because of the Supreme Court decision, it will need to issue a summary of material modifications within 60 days after the effective date of this reduction in coverage.
In another development, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its guidance on how to comply with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). This guidance says that to comply with the PDA contraceptives must be covered, and that the EEOC may challenge an employer that does not provide this coverage because of its religious beliefs.
If you would like to a summary of these agency announcements, please click here.
