Shaw v. Delta Air Lines

Shaw v. Delta Air Lines

Opinion

 [*88]  [***495]  [**2895]    JUSTICE BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court.

 New York's Human Rights Law forbids discrimination in employment, including discrimination in employee benefit plans on the basis of pregnancy. The State's Disability Benefits Law requires employers to pay sick-leave benefits to employees unable to work because of pregnancy or other nonoccupational disabilities. The question before us is whether these New York laws are pre-empted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

] The Human Rights Law, N. Y. Exec. Law §§ 290-301 (McKinney 1982 and Supp. 1982-1983), is a comprehensive antidiscrimination statute prohibiting, among other practices, employment discrimination on the basis of sex. § 296.1(a). ³ [****9]  The New York Court  [***496]  of Appeals has held that a private employer whose employee benefit plan treats pregnancy differently from other nonoccupational disabilities engages in sex discrimination within the meaning of the Human Rights Law. Brooklyn Union Gas Co. v. New York State Human Rights Appeal Board, 41 N. Y. 2d 84, 359 N. E. 2d 393 (1976).  [****8]  In contrast, two weeks before the decision in Brooklyn Union Gas, this Court ruled that discrimination based on pregnancy was not sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 253, as amended,  [*89]  42 U. S. C. § 2000e et seq.  General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125 (1976). ⁴ Congress overcame the Gilbert ruling by enacting § 1 of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, 92 Stat. 2076, 42 U. S. C. § 2000e(k) (1976 ed., Supp. V), which added subsection (k) to § 701 of the Civil Rights  [**2896]  Act of 1964. ⁵ See Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. v. EEOC, 462 U.S. 669, 678 (1983). Until that Act took effect on April 29, 1979, see § 2(b), 92 Stat. 2076, the Human Rights Law in this respect had a reach broader than Title VII.

] The Disability Benefits Law, N. Y. Work.  [****10]  Comp. Law §§ 200-242 (McKinney 1965 and Supp. 1982-1983), requires employers to pay certain benefits to employees unable to work because of nonoccupational injuries or illness. Disabled employees generally are entitled to receive the lesser of $ 95 per week or one-half their average weekly wage, for a maximum of 26 weeks in any 1-year period. §§ 204.2, 205.1. Until August 1977, the Disability Benefits Law provided that employees were not entitled to benefits for pregnancy-related disabilities. § 205.3 (McKinney 1965). From August 1977 to June 1981, employers were required to provide eight weeks of benefits for pregnancy-related disabilities.  [*90]  1977 N. Y. Laws, ch. 675, § 29 (formerly codified as N. Y. Work. Comp. Law § 205.3). This limitation was repealed in 1981, see 1981 N. Y. Laws, ch. 352, § 2, and the Disability Benefits Law now requires employers to provide the same benefits for pregnancy as for any other disability. ⁶

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