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EEOC Ruling Protects,
Not Harms, Health Benefits
July 2004 / THIS ACTIVE LIVE Publication
by John O'Neil
Supporting the position held by NEA and other labor unions,
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently
held that the practice of coordinating employer-provided
retiree health coverage with eligibility for Medicare should
not be considered a violation of the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
"This ruling protects the health insurance benefits of
people who retire before becoming eligible for Medicare,"
says Al Campos of NEA Government Relations. "It doesn't
change state law or contracts that are collectively
bargained,"
In other words, NEA-Retired members, whether they are
under 65 or over 65 (and eligible for Medicare or a similar
state-sponsored plan), can rest easy. The EEOC's ruling
will not result in the loss of or changes to your health
coverage.
Following the EEOC ruling, Bruce Meredith of the Wisconsin
Education Association Council testified to the Senate
Special Committee on the Aging in support of EEOC's action.
The EEOC rule "is crucial to union efforts to save retiree
health benefits for all retirees, especially those not yet
eligible for Medicare," he said. "If the rule is not
implemented, it is all too likely that a large percentage of
the retirees, and future retirees, who currently receive or
anticipate receiving employer-sponsored benefits will lose
them."
Legal Saga
The EEOC's ruling was necessary because of a complicated
legal saga involving health insurance benefits offered to
employees of Erie County, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in 2000 that providing
different health insurance benefits to retirees under 65
than over 65 violated the ADEA.
That court decision created a quandary: employers were
left to either reduce the health benefits afforded to early
retirees to match the benefits provided to retirees on
Medicare, provide increased benefits to retirees already on
Medicare, or accept the legal risk of possibly violating the
ADEA. In the Erie County case, the employer responded by
reducing benefits and forcing early retirees to pay more
toward their health coverage.
The EEOC ruling, then, removes a reason employers may
have used to drop or cut retiree health insurance. The
decision is now subject to comment from other federal
agencies, and it must be reviewed by the Office of
Management and Budget before it becomes final. |
What You
Can Do
Visit the LAC
For additional
information about EOC ruling, visit NEA's Legislative Action
Center. Go to
www.nea.org/healthcare/index.html and you'll find
answers to frequently asked questions about the ruling.
Contact your Member of Congress
While you're at the
LAC, you can also send a message supporting the EEOC ruling
to your congressional representative.
Be
a Cyber-lobbyist
If you want to stay
abreast of NEA's position on issues before Congress, become
a cyber-lobbyist. NEA cyber-lobbyists receive a weekly
e-mail on congressional action as well as occasional "action
alerts." To sign up, go to
www.nea.org/lac and click on "Join our e-mail list." |
