Braatz v. Labor & Industry Review Commission
Supreme Court of Wisconsin
496 N.W.2d 597 (Wis. 1993)
A school district's collective-bargaining agreement barred married teachers who had health coverage through a spouse's employer from also keeping the district's coverage, forcing them to pick one; single teachers with duplicate coverage from other sources faced no such requirement. The Labor and Industry Review Commission (defendant) found this non-duplication policy did not violate the state's marital-status discrimination law, but the teachers (plaintiffs) challenged that ruling, and both the circuit court and court of appeals sided with the teachers; the Commission appealed further.
Whether an employer policy that requires only married employees to choose between employer-provided health insurance and a spouse's coverage constitutes marital-status discrimination under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act.