Erickson v. The Bartell Drug Company
United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
141 F. Supp.2d 1266 (2001)
Relevant factsFree
Bartell Drug (defendant) offered its employees a generally comprehensive prescription drug plan that specifically excluded prescription contraceptives, and Erickson (plaintiff), a Bartell employee, sued claiming this exclusion violated Title VII; Bartell argued contraceptives were voluntary and preventative rather than disease-treating, making them different in kind from other covered prescriptions, and also argued it should be free to limit benefit costs as it saw fit.
IssueFree
Whether an employer's failure to include prescription contraceptives in its otherwise comprehensive health insurance plan is unlawfully discriminatory.