Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/506/125/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-12-10 18:13:29
Document Index: 163634472

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 36', '§ 514', '§ 514', '§ 2', '§ 4', '§ 1003', '§ 514', '§4', '§ 514', '§ 514', '§ 3', '§ 1002']

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. v. GREATER WASHINGTON BOARD OF TRADE - 506 U.S. 125 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 506 > DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. v. GREATER WASHINGTON BOARD OF TRADE 506 U.S. 125 > Full Text
Effective March 6, 1991, the District of Columbia Workers' Compensation Equity Amendment Act of 1990, 37 D. C. Register 6890 (Nov. 1990), amended several portions of the District's workers' compensation law, D. C. Code Ann. §§ 36-301
The Court of Appeals reversed. 292 U. S. App. D. C. 209, 948 F.2d 1317 (1991). The court held that pre-emption of
We have repeatedly stated that a law "relate[s] to" a covered employee benefit plan for purposes of § 514(a) "if it has a connection with or reference to such a plan." Shaw, supra, at 97. E. g., Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U. S. 133, 139 (1990); FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U. S. 52, 58 (1990); Mackey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc., 486 U. S. 825, 829 (1988); Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U. S. 41, 47 (1987); Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U. S. 724, 739 (1985). This reading is true to the ordinary meaning of "relate to," see Black's Law Dictionary 1288 (6th ed. 1990), and thus gives effect to the "deliberately expansive" language chosen by Congress. Pilot Life, supra, at 46. See also Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 383 (1992). Under § 514(a), ERISA preempts any state law that refers to or has a connection with
2Jn Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, 482 U. S. 1 (1987), we construed the word "plan" to connote some minimal, ongoing "administrative" scheme or practice, and held that "a one-time, lump-sum payment triggered by a single event" does not qualify as an employer-sponsored benefit plan. Id., at 12. Petitioners do not contend that employers in the District of Columbia provide health insurance for their employees without thereby administering welfare plans within the meaning of ERISA, and petitioners concede that the existing health insurance sponsored by respondent constitutes an ERISA plan. Tr. of Oral Arg. 14.
3 ERISA does not pre-empt § 2(c)(2) to the extent its requirements are measured only by reference to "existing health insurance coverage" provided under plans that are exempt from ERISA regulation, such as "governmental" or "church" plans, see ERISA §§ 4(b)(I) and (2), 29 U. S. C. §§ 1003(b)(I) and (2).
Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U. S. 724 (1985), in which we described Shaw as holding that "the New York Human Rights Law and that State's Disability Benefits Law 'relate[d] to' welfare plans governed by ERISA." Id., at 739. Relying on this dictum and their reading of Shaw, petitioners argue that § 514(a) should be construed to require a two-step analysis: If the state law "relate[s] to" an ERISA-covered plan, it may still survive pre-emption if employers could comply with the law through separately administered plans exempt under §4(b). See Tr. of Oral Arg. 16-17. But Metropolitan Life construed only the scope of § 514(b)(2)(A)'s safe harbor for state laws regulating insurance, see 471 U. S., at 739-747; it did not purport to add, by its passing reference to Shaw, any further gloss on § 514(a). And although we did conclude in Shaw that both New York laws at issue there related to "employee benefit plan[s]" in general, 463 U. S., at 100, only the Human Rights Law, which barred discrimination by ERISA plans, fell within the pre-emption provision. See id., at 100106. As we have explained, the Disability Benefits Law up-
4 "Welfare plans" include plans providing "benefits in the event of sickness, accident, [or] disability." § 3(1),29 U. S. C. § 1002(1).
2 See Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U. S. 133, 138-139 (1990); FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U. S. 52, 58-59 (1990); Mackey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc., 486 U. S. 825, 829 (1988); Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, 482 U. S. 1, 11 (1987); Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux,
3 Several years ago a District Judge who had read "nearly 100 cases about the reach of the ERISA preemption clause" concluded that "common sense should not be left at the courthouse door." See Schultz v. National Coalition of Hispanic Mental Health and Human Services Organizations, 678 F. Supp., at 938. A recent LEXIS search indicates that there are now over 2,800 judicial opinions addressing ERISA pre-emption. This growth may be a consequence of the growing emphasis on the meaning of the words "relate to," thus pre-empting reliance on what the District Judge referred to as "common sense."
. . . "In the absence of an express congressional command, state law is pre-empted if that law actually conflicts with federal law, see Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. Energy Resources Conservation and Development Comm'n, 461 U. S. 190, 204 (1983), or if federal law so thoroughly occupies a legislative field '''as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it.''' Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. v. De la Cuesta, 458 U. S. 141, 153 (1982) (quoting Rice v. Sante Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S., at 230)."
5 One of the statute's stated goals was "to promote a fairer system of compensation." Preamble to District of Columbia's Workers' Compensation Equity Amendment Act of 1990, 37 D. C. Register 6890 (Nov. 1990).