Last year, Charlotte, North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College got its health insurance carrier to drop coverage for voluntary sterilization, abortion, and contraception because the coverage is contrary to Catholic teaching. That led eight faculty members to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging the college, run by Benedictine monks, with religious and gender-based discrimination in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (See prior posting.) Inside Higher Education yesterday reported that, after rejecting the discrimination charges last March, the EEOC has now changed its position. On July 30, it issued a determination letter (full text) concluding that dropping prescription coverage for contraceptive drugs amounts to gender discrimination because it impacts only women, and not men. However the EEOC rejected religious discrimination charges because the benefits were removed for all employees, regardless of their religious beliefs. The EEOC will move ahead with efforts at conciliation, while the college indicated it would challenge the ruling.
UPDATE: According to the Aug. 15 Washington Times, Belmont Abbey College president William K. Thierfelder says he would close the college down before he would offer health care benefits that violate Catholic doctrine.
