"Wal-Mart Bill" Preempted By Federal Law
Maryland law requiring corporations with 10,000 or more workers to spend 8 percent of their payrolls on health insurance, or pay the difference into a state fund was found to be preempted by Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). By a 2-to-1 ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore found that the Maryland law was preempted by ERISA, a 32 year old federal labor law. ERISA was developed to allow large companies to uniformly administer health benefits across the country, rather than becoming entangled in state-by-state requirements. Here is the opinion.
We have commented previously that it is likely California’s attempts to impose employer funded health insurance will encounter similar challenges.