Case Summary for Erickson v. Bartell Drug Co.

LEGAL BACKGROUND TO ERICKSON V. BARTELL DRUG CO.

This case is being brought under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits employers (with 15 or more employees) from making employment decisions – including the decision about what health care benefits to offer – on the basis of sex or pregnancy, or for other discriminatory reasons.

An employer’s failure to include coverage for prescription contraception in an employees’ health plan violates Title VII. This practice singles out women, who are the sole users of prescription contraception, for less than complete health coverage. Forcing women either to use their own money to buy prescription contraception, or face the risk of getting pregnant, is sex discrimination. This is especially true if the insurance plan covers other preventive prescription drugs such as hormone replacement therapy or vaccinations.

Plaintiffs in this landmark class action case are asking the court to order their employer to begin immediately covering all FDA-approved methods of contraception in the health benefits plan offered to them as employees.

How is Title VII different from legislation that has been proposed in Congress (which is known as "EPICC") and passed in some states that would require health plans to cover contraception?

Title VII prohibits sex discrimination by employers with 15 or more employees. It thus does not protect women who do not have health coverage through their (or their spouse’s) employer, or women whose employer has fewer than 15 employees. A victory in a Title VII case is legally binding only against the employer that was the defendant in the case.

EPICC, if it were to pass, would mandate that all private insurance plans cover contraception.

State laws that mandate contraceptive coverage only apply to about half of the insured workers in the state. State laws do not help the other half – those workers employed by large, so-called "self-insured" companies.*

*If, however, plaintiffs are successful in establishing that Title VII requires covering contraception, there would be a strong argument that state contraceptive equity laws do apply to self-funded plans despite the ERISA law.