EEOC upholds restrictions on gender-affirming care coverage for federal workers
By Daniel Wiessner
March 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has upheld an Obama-era policy allowing insurers to limit federal workers' insurance coverage for gender-affirming treatment, potentially bolstering a recent total ban by President Donald Trump's administration, the Office of Personnel Management said on Thursday.
The Republican-controlled EEOC in a March 24 decision said a 2015 policy by the OPM, which acts as the human resources department for federal workers, allowing insurance carriers to provide less-than-full coverage for gender-affirming care was not discriminatory.
A new OPM policy that took effect January 1 prohibits carriers from providing the coverage at all, part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to roll back legal rights for transgender people.
Four current or former federal employees who are transgender claimed the 2015 policy discriminated against them on the basis of their sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and their gender dysphoria in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. That law prohibits federal agencies from discriminating based on disability.
But the EEOC said the U.S. Supreme Court had made clear last year in United States v. Skrmetti that regulating gender-affirming procedures is not equivalent to discrimination based on sex. The court in its decision upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors.
"The record instead shows OPM acted carefully and rationally as it sought to balance costs, medical needs, and other actuarial considerations," the EEOC said.
The workers challenging the policy were identified only by their first names, and their lawyers could not immediately be identified.
OPM in a statement on Thursday said the decision affirms the agency's authority to establish insurance coverage standards for the federal workforce.
“Federal health benefits must be administered in a way that is fiscally responsible, legally sound, delivers high-quality care, and works toward improved health outcomes," said Shane Stevens, OPM's associate director for healthcare and insurance.
Republicans currently hold a 2-1 majority on the commission. The EEOC's lone Democrat, Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, said in a statement that she voted against the decision "because it disregards the law, ignores medical consensus, and treats transgender people as second-class citizens."
An LGBTQ rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, has filed a class-action complaint with the EEOC challenging OPM's newly enacted policy. The group says the ban on coverage discriminates against workers based on their sex and will deny many transgender people medically necessary care.
The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints against private-sector employers and can broker settlements or sue companies in court.
Cases involving federal employees follow a different track and are ultimately decided by the five-member commission, whose decisions can be appealed in federal court.
The EEOC last month issued a ruling allowing federal agencies to bar transgender workers from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
The decision was a stark departure from a seminal 2015 ruling by the commission that said discrimination based on gender identity is a form of unlawful sex discrimination. That decision came years before several federal appeals courts and, in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court came to the conclusion.
The case is Sam T. v. Kupor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, No. 0120172750.
Read more:
US Supreme Court upholds Tennessee law banning youth transgender care
US federal workers challenge Trump policy on gender-affirming care
In landmark ruling, U.S. Supreme Court bars discrimination against LGBT workers
