The Affordable Care Act's mandate that all employer-provided insurance plans provide coverage for contraception went into effect on January 1, 2014.  The ACA exempts religious employers from this mandate.  Other, non-profit "religiously-affiliated" employers, however, were not initially exempt.  Not surprisingly, many objected, and in response, the government created an accommodation to this requirement for non-profit religiously-affiliated employers –exempting them from providing contraception coverage, but requiring them instead to complete a form making their employees eligible for contraceptive coverage directly.

Earlier this week with the Wednesday deadline approaching, multiple Catholic-affiliated employers in the "religiously-affiliated" category sought temporary judicial protection from the contraceptive mandate (from both providing coverage and from completing the form as an accommodation), asserting that the mandate violates both the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the First Amendment.  Various motions for injunctive relief were filed by Catholic employers across the country who had previously challenged the mandate in actions pending on appeal as of the January 1, 2014 effective date.  The results this week were varied.  The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals denied an injunction requested by Notre Dame, and the D.C. Circuit granted an injunction requested by Priests for Life.

A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit granted the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Aquinas College in Nashville, and several other Middle Tennessee Catholic organizations a temporary injunction pending their appeal of the contraceptive mandate accommodation's application to them.  So for now, those Middle Tennessee organizations are not required to comply with the mandate.

What's in store?  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a similar injunction for Little Sisters of the Poor, arising out of the Federal Circuit (for which she is the Supreme Court Justice assigned), and there is speculation that the U.S. Supreme Court may take up this issue this Spring, especially given the varying treatment across the Circuits.

Stay tuned.

For further information visit Waller

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.