Opinion ID: 780505
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act

Text: 12 Title VII prohibits employment practices that discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). This prohibition extends to discrimination in providing health insurance and other fringe benefits. See Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. v. EEOC, 462 U.S. 669, 682, 103 S.Ct. 2622, 77 L.Ed.2d 89 (1983). 13 The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amends Title VII's definition of discrimination because of sex to include discrimination because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k). The PDA further mandates that women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work. Id. Under the PDA, an otherwise inclusive plan that single[s] out pregnancy-related benefits for exclusion is discriminatory on its face. Newport News, 462 U.S. at 684, 103 S.Ct. 2622. 14 In challenging the district court's analysis of her PDA and Title VII claims, Saks argues that (1) the district court applied incorrect standards in evaluating her claims and (2) the Plan discriminates on the basis of sex under Title VII because it provides fewer benefits for infertile female employees than it does for infertile male employees. We agree that the district court applied incorrect standards in analyzing both the PDA claim and the Title VII sex-discrimination claim. Nevertheless, for the reasons explained below, we find that the Plan's exclusion of surgical impregnation procedures does not fall within the purview of the PDA and, because it is gender neutral, does not violate Title VII.

15 In analyzing whether the Plan violates Title VII, the district court adopted the equal access standard used by this court in construing the scope of the ADA's prohibition of discrimination based on disability. See Saks, 117 F.Supp.2d at 328-29. In EEOC v. Staten Island Savings Bank, we held that an employee disabilities benefits plan that provided more benefits for physical disabilities than for mental disorders did not violate the ADA, so long as mentally disabled employees had equal access to the physical disability benefits provided to their coworkers. See 207 F.3d 144, 149-50 (2d Cir.2000). Extending this analysis to the Title VII context, the district court found that as long as both men and women receive the same benefits and are subject to the same exclusions under an employer's insurance policy, the policy does not discriminate on the basis of sex. Saks, 117 F.Supp.2d at 328. 16 The district court erred in applying the equal access standard to Saks's Title VII claim. In General Electric v. Gilbert, the Supreme Court applied the equal access standard to an employee disability benefits plan that provided compensation during periods of all disabilities except pregnancy. The Court found that the plan did not violate Title VII because men and women had equal access to the same benefits, even if certain sex-specific benefits were excluded. The Court reasoned that pregnancy-related disabilities constitute an additional risk, unique to women, and the failure to compensate them for this risk does not destroy the presumed parity of the benefits, accruing to men and women alike, which results from the facially evenhanded inclusion of risks. 429 U.S. 125, 139, 97 S.Ct. 401, 50 L.Ed.2d 343 (1976) (emphasis added). Shortly after the Gilbert decision, Congress enacted the PDA, and, in so doing, not only overturned the specific holding in General Electric v. Gilbert, ... but also rejected the test of discrimination employed by the Court in that case. Newport News, 462 U.S. at 676, 103 S.Ct. 2622; accord id. at 678, 103 S.Ct. 2622 (the PDA unambiguously expressed [Congress's] disapproval of both the holding and the reasoning of the Court in the Gilbert decision); see also Cal. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272, 277 & n. 6, 284, 288, 107 S.Ct. 683, 93 L.Ed.2d 613 (1987); Philbrook v. Ansonia Bd. of Educ., 757 F.2d 476, 483 (2d Cir.1985), aff'd modified and remanded on other grounds, 479 U.S. 60, 107 S.Ct. 367, 93 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986). 17 In light of Congress's repudiation of the equal access standard as applied in Gilbert, we conclude that this test is inapplicable to Title VII claims involving sex discrimination in the provision of employee benefits packages. Under Title VII the proper inquiry in reviewing a sex discrimination challenge to a health benefits plan is whether sex-specific conditions exist, and if so, whether exclusion of benefits for those conditions results in a plan that provides inferior coverage to one sex. See Newport News, 462 U.S. at 676, 103 S.Ct. 2622 (stating that equality in employment health benefits plans is measured by the relative comprehensiveness of coverage for men and women). 18
19 Saks further contends that the district court improperly endorsed a couple analysis, defined by the parties as a finding that a female-specific exclusion does not constitute sex discrimination so long as male and female employees and their respective partners receive the same health benefits when considered as a couple. Franklin Covey, on the other hand, maintains that the couple analysis is used regularly by courts in determining whether an employer's benefits plan constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII. We reject Saks's contention that the district court relied on the couple analysis, and find that Judge McMahon properly focused on the effect of the exclusion on employees, male and female, not on the benefits offered to the couple ( i.e., the employee and his or her spouse, considered together). See Saks, 117 F.Supp.2d at 328. Contrary to Franklin Covey's suggestion, moreover, we find that the Supreme Court's decision in Newport News gives us no reason to adopt the couple analysis, as defined above, as part of this Circuit's PDA or Title VII jurisprudence. 20 In Newport News, the Supreme Court held that an employee health benefits plan violated Title VII by covering pregnancy-related costs for employees but excluding such costs for the spouses of employees. Reasoning that this exclusion would necessarily affect only the coverage offered to the female spouses of male employees, the Court found that the exclusion discriminated against male employees. See 462 U.S. at 684-85, 103 S.Ct. 2622. The Court, therefore, focused on whether male and female employees received equal coverage under their health benefits packages. It did not hold, as Franklin Covey seems to suggest, that an across-the-board female-specific exclusion would pass muster under Title VII or the PDA, so long as all couples received the same benefits. Under Franklin Covey's couple analysis, exclusions based on pregnancy would not violate Title VII, a conclusion that has been squarely rejected by Congress and the Supreme Court. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k); Newport News, 462 U.S. at 684, 103 S.Ct. 2622. 2
21 Saks claims that the Plan violates the PDA because it provides fewer benefits for infertility procedures than for treatment of other types of illnesses. The central issue with respect to this claim is a threshold one of coverage: Whether the PDA's prohibition of discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and related medical conditions extends to discrimination on the basis of infertility. We have no doubt that by including the phrase related medical conditions, the statutory language clearly embraces more than pregnancy itself. See Carney v. Martin Luther Home, Inc., 824 F.2d 643, 647-48 (8th Cir.1987). The question is how much more. 22 Every exercise in statutory construction must begin with the words of the text. See Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 300-01, 109 S.Ct. 1814, 104 L.Ed.2d 318 (1989); Auburn Hous. Auth. v. Martinez, 277 F.3d 138, 143 (2d Cir.2002). The text's plain meaning can best be understood by looking to the statutory scheme as a whole and placing the particular provision within the context of that statute. See Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 341, 117 S.Ct. 843, 136 L.Ed.2d 808 (1997) (The plainness or ambiguity of statutory language is determined by reference to the language itself, the specific context in which that language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a whole.); K Mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc., 486 U.S. 281, 291, 108 S.Ct. 1811, 100 L.Ed.2d 313 (1988) (In ascertaining the plain meaning of the statute, the court must look to the particular statutory language at issue, as well as the language and design of the statute as a whole.). We have stated that the preferred meaning of a statutory provision is one that is consonant with the rest of the statute. Auburn Hous. Auth., 277 F.3d at 144; accord United States v. Interlink Sys., Inc., 984 F.2d 79, 82 (2d Cir.1993). 23 Title VII is, at its core, a statute that prohibits discrimination because of, inter alia, an individual's sex. The PDA modified Title VII by requiring that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions be considered discrimination because of sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k). Because reproductive capacity is common to both men and women, we do not read the PDA as introducing a completely new classification of prohibited discrimination based solely on reproductive capacity. Rather, the PDA requires that pregnancy, and related conditions, be properly recognized as sex-based characteristics of women. 24 This understanding of the PDA comports with the Supreme Court's reasoning in International Union v. Johnson Controls, Inc., in which the Court indicated that, although discrimination based on childbearing capacity violates Title VII as modified by the PDA, discrimination based on fertility alone would not. See 499 U.S. 187, 198, 111 S.Ct. 1196, 113 L.Ed.2d 158 (1991). We conclude that under this reasoning, for a condition to fall within the PDA's inclusion of pregnancy... and related medical conditions as sex-based characteristics, that condition must be unique to women. 3 25 Infertility is a medical condition that afflicts men and women with equal frequency. See Joint App. Ex. 10 at FC 6 (stating that approximately one third of infertility problems are due to male factors, one third due to female factors, and one third due to couple factors); see also Cintra D. Bentley, A Pregnant Pause: Are Women Who Undergo Fertility Treatment to Achieve Pregnancy Within the Scope of Title VII's Pregnancy Discrimination Act?, 73 Chi.-Kent L.Rev. 391, 394-95 (1998). Including infertility within the PDA's protection as a related medical condition[] would result in the anomaly of defining a class that simultaneously includes equal numbers of both sexes and yet is somehow vulnerable to sex discrimination. Because such a result is incompatible with the PDA's purpose of clarifying the definition of because of sex and the Supreme Court's interpretation of the PDA in Johnson Controls, we hold that infertility standing alone does not fall within the meaning of the phrase related medical conditions under the PDA. Thus, even if we were to agree with Saks that the Plan provided inferior coverage for infertility, such inferior coverage would not violate the PDA. 4 26 In sum, we find that, because the exclusion of surgical impregnation procedures disadvantages infertile male and female employees equally, Saks's claim does not fall within the purview of the PDA.
27 Having concluded discrimination based on infertility alone is not cognizable under the PDA, we now consider whether Saks has stated a claim for sex discrimination under Title VII on any other ground. Saks contends that the exclusion of coverage for surgical impregnation procedures violates Title VII because the actual procedure is performed on women and, therefore, the exclusion affects only female employees. Thus, according to Saks, the Plan violates Title VII by offering complete coverage for surgical infertility treatments for male employees but incomplete coverage for female employees. 28 In a different context the exclusion of surgeries that are performed solely on women from an otherwise comprehensive plan might arguably constitute a violation of Title VII, but here we are faced with the unique circumstance of surgical impregnation procedures performed for the treatment of infertility. Although the surgical procedures are performed only on women, the need for the procedures may be traced to male, female, or couple infertility with equal frequency. Thus, surgical impregnation procedures may be recommended regardless of the gender of the ill patient. For example, where a male suffers from poor sperm motility or low sperm count, resulting in his infertility, his healthy female partner must undergo the surgical procedure. In addition, treatment by surgical impregnation procedures requires the participation of both the male and the female partners. Because male and female employees afflicted by infertility are equally disadvantaged by the exclusion of surgical impregnation procedures, we conclude that the Plan does not discriminate on the basis of sex. 29 The Supreme Court's reasoning in Newport News supports this conclusion. In that case, the Supreme Court recognized that, although a policy that excluded maternity benefits for dependent children discriminates on the basis of pregnancy, the exclusion affects male and female employees equally since both may have pregnant dependent daughters. See Newport News, 462 U.S. at 684 n. 25, 103 S.Ct. 2622. Similarly, in this case, the Plan's exclusion of surgical impregnation procedures does not provide male employees with more comprehensive coverage of infertility treatments than female employees because the surgical procedures in question are used to treat both male and female infertility. 5 30 Saks contends that, regardless of the gender-neutral origin of the problem necessitating the procedures, the Plan's exclusion effectively targets only infertile women. In support of this contention, Saks makes a two-part argument. First, she maintains that the Plan implicitly restricts coverage to procedures performed directly on the ill patient. Under that implicit restriction, an infertile man who sought surgical impregnation of his healthy wife as a remedy for his infertility would be denied coverage. Second, Saks reasons that, because, under the implicit restriction, the Plan would not cover procedures performed on the infertile male employee's healthy wife, the explicit exclusion of coverage for surgical impregnation procedures limits only the Plan's coverage for treatment of a female employee's infertility. 6 31 Without some evidence to support Saks's reading of the Plan to contain the implicit restriction, her argument is simply too speculative to defeat a motion for summary judgment. See Kulak v. City of New York, 88 F.3d 63, 71 (2d Cir.1996) (Though we must accept as true the allegations of the party defending against the summary judgment motion, ... conclusory statements, conjecture or speculation by the [non-moving party] will not defeat summary judgment.). Saks has adduced no such evidence. 32 Saks's argument requires the Court to assume that, if the Plan did provide coverage for surgical impregnation procedures, it would refuse to cover surgical impregnation procedures to treat male infertility. There is nothing in the language of the Plan to support this interpretation. The Plan covers all medically necessary procedures unless specifically exempted. Medically necessary procedures are defined as any service required to treat an active illness. Thus, to the extent that Franklin Covey would consider surgical impregnation medically necessary to treat female infertility, the plain language of the Plan suggests that such procedures would also be considered medically necessary to treat male infertility. 7 Moreover, she does not offer any data suggesting that insurance companies that do cover surgical impregnation procedures do so only for female infertility, and not when the procedure must be performed on a healthy woman because of her partner's infertility. Without some evidence, Saks's argument is wholly speculative and, as such, is insufficient to defeat Franklin Covey's motion for summary judgment. 33 Because the exclusion affects a procedure that is used to treat both male and female infertility (which occurs at similar rates across genders), this case is distinguishable from the authorities upon which Saks relies, namely, Johnson Controls, and a decision by the EEOC. In Johnson Controls, the Supreme Court held that Title VII was violated by an employer's fetal protection policy that required women to prove their inability to become pregnant as a prerequisite to job assignments involving actual or potential exposure to lead. See 499 U.S. at 190-92, 197, 111 S.Ct. 1196. In 2000, the EEOC concluded that an exclusion of prescription contraceptive drugs and devices in an otherwise comprehensive health care plan violated Title VII because prescription contraceptives, which are prescribed as birth control and for other medical purposes, are used solely by women. See Decision of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 1-2, 4-5 (Dec. 14, 2000) <www.eeoc.gov/docs/decision-contraception.html>. Whereas these cases involved a distinction based on the capacity to become pregnant and on the exclusion of oral contraceptives, both of which disadvantage women only, the exclusion of surgical impregnation techniques limits the coverage available to infertile men and infertile women and, thus does not violate Title VII. See Johnson Controls, 499 U.S. at 198, 111 S.Ct. 1196 (finding gender discrimination in fetal protection policy because it classifies on the basis of gender and childbearing capacity, rather than fertility alone). 34 Because the Plan's exclusion of coverage for surgical impregnation procedures limits the infertility procedures covered for male and female employees equally, that exclusion does not violate Title VII. 8