Supreme Court stays decision on ERISA exemption for religiously affiliated hospitals
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a decision requiring a religiously affiliated health-care provider to comply with federal pension funding requirements for its employees.
The court stayed a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found the pension plan operated by Dignity Health doesn’t qualify as a “church plan” entitled to an exemption to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, report Lyle Denniston Law News, Bloomberg BNA and Modern Health Care.
The court could decide within weeks whether to grant cert in the case, Dignity Health v. Rollins, according to Lyle Denniston Law News. A Supreme Court decision could have implications for such companies under the Affordable Care Act, which also exempts “church plans” from its requirement that employee health plans include birth-control coverage, the article reports.
Dignity Health is one of three health care systems seeking Supreme Court review of appellate rulings that required them to increase pension funding to comply with ERISA.
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