LINCOLN, Neb. -- U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp ruled in a class-action lawsuit that Union Pacific Railroad discriminated against women by not covering contraceptives in its health care plan, a federal judge has ruled. The policy is discriminatory "because it treats medical care women need to prevent pregnancy less favorably than it treats medical care needed to prevent other medical conditions that are no greater threat to employees' health than is pregnancy," the judge wrote. The lawsuit, backed by Planned Parenthood, alleged that the railroad's action violated the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employers with 15 or more workers from making decisions based on gender or pregnancy.
Posted by Editor at July 27, 2005 09:34 AM
