Opinion ID: 391158
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statutory Grid

Text: 3
4 Section 703(a)(1) of Title VII, enacted in 1964 as part of the Civil Rights Act, makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of ... sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). As originally enacted, Title VII did not specify whether or not denial of employee benefits related to pregnancy was intended to constitute discrimination because of sex. In 1976, the Supreme Court held that an employer's exclusion of pregnancy-related benefits from coverage under disability benefit plans did not constitute discrimination because of ... sex within the meaning of § 703(a)(1). General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125, 97 S.Ct. 401, 50 L.Ed.2d 343 (1976). 4 5 Like Title VII, New York's HRL prohibits discrimination in employment because of ... sex. Unlike the United States Supreme Court, however, the New York Court of Appeals interpreted this language in its own statute to require private employers maintaining disability benefits plans to provide benefits for pregnancy on the same basis as for other covered disabilities. Brooklyn Union Gas Co. v. New York State Human Rights Appeal Board, 41 N.Y.2d 84, 390 N.Y.S.2d 884, 359 N.E.2d 393 (1976). 5 Soon afterward, New York amended the DBL to require employers to provide coverage for at least eight weeks of pregnancy-related disability. 6 6 As of April 29, 1979, Title VII was amended to provide that the term because of sex would include the meaning because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Pub.L. 95-555, 92 Stat. 2076 (1978). The amendment further provided 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 .... 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k) (Supp. II 1978). Thus, after April 29, 1979, the HRL was no longer broader than Title VII. 7
8 In 1974, Congress enacted ERISA, a comprehensive federal statutory program designed to curb a variety of abuses associated with pension and other employee benefits plans, see 29 U.S.C. § 1001 (statement of congressional purpose). To protect the integrity of the federal regulatory scheme, ERISA § 514(a), 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a), provides that ERISA shall supersede any and all State laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan described in (ERISA § 4(a), 29 U.S.C. § 1003(a)) and not exempt under (ERISA § 4(b), 29 U.S.C. § 1003(b)). 7 Section 4(a) of ERISA extends ERISA coverage to any employee benefit plan maintained by an employer or union that affects interstate commerce. Section 4(b)(3) exempts from ERISA, inter alia, benefit plans maintained solely for the purpose of complying with applicable ... disability insurance laws. 8 9
10 The RLA, enacted in 1926, regulates labor relations of interstate rail carriers, and is made applicable to air carriers by 45 U.S.C. § 181. The RLA is designed to promote the collective bargaining process, and generally permits the parties to collective bargaining to agree upon whatever terms are mutually satisfactory.