Opinion ID: 780505
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Saks's Sex-Discrimination Claim

Text: 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