On July 14, 2014, the EEOC issued new Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues.  The immediately-effective Guidance sets forth the EEOC’s policies with regard to its enforcement of pregnancy-based employment discrimination prohibitions under Title VII — as clarified by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 — and other federal laws.

With regard to contraception, the Guidance provides that employers violate Title VII by providing health insurance that excludes coverage for prescription contraceptives, whether the contraceptives are provided for birth control or medical purposes.   

The Guidance further explains that, in order to comply with Title VII, employer provided health plans must cover prescription contraceptives on the same basis as other prescription drugs, devices and services that are used to prevent the occurrence of medical conditions other than pregnancy:  if an employer provided health plan covers preventive care for vaccinations, physical examinations and prescription drugs to prevent high blood pressure or to lower cholesterol levels, then prescription contraceptives must also be covered.

The Guidance noted that Title VII makes it clear that employer provided health plans are not required to provide coverage for abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or where medical complications have arisen from an abortion. 

Hobby Lobby

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., owners of a closely-held for-profit corporation objected to including certain Affordable Care Act (ACA)-mandated contraception — including IUDs, Plan B and Ella — based on their view that those contraceptive methods caused very early term abortions, by precluding the fertilize egg from implanting in the uterus.  Abortion, in turn, violated the Hobby Lobby owners’ religious beliefs.  The Supreme Court ruled that the ACA contraception mandate violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) as applied to closely-held for-profit corporations whose owners had religious objections to providing certain types of contraception. 

The EEOC’s Q & A concerning the Guidance contained the caveat that the Guidance did not address whether certain employers might be exempt from Title VII’s requirements under the RFRA or First Amendment of the Constitution.  Certainly, one can expect this question to be addressed by the courts.  Although there is no way of knowing, it is difficult to imagine how a court could distinguish Hobby Lobby in a challenge to the Guidance’s rules around contraception — especially contraceptive methods that an employer equates to abortion –, particularly in light of Title VII’s existing exception for abortion coverage.

In addition, the Guidance did not address the impact on other employers who are currently exempt from existing contraception requirements — such as those employers who maintain plans that are grandfathered under the ACA.

Key Take Away:  The Guidance would seem to open the door for employees to submit to the EEOC’s administrative review process complaints of Title VII discrimination based on an employer provided plan’s failure to include requisite contraceptive coverage.  How the Guidance will be applied to employers who are currently exempt from existing contraception requirements — and what the challenges to any such enforcement might be — remains to be seen.

Also, please see our Disability, Leave & Health Management blog for an employment law analysis of the Guidance.