June 30 is the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s “Hobby Lobby” decision, named for the chain of craft stores that brought the case, which held that some companies with religious leaders cannot be required to pay for insurance coverage of contraception.
The ruling was a landmark exempting closely held for-profit corporations from a law that their owners religiously object to if there is a less restrictive way to achieve the law’s goal, and is seen as an interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. It struck down a regulation adopted by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services under the Affordable Care Act requiring employers to cover certain contraceptives for their female employees.
Advisen data found that religious discrimination and litigation filings and enforcement actions that could trigger coverage under an employment liability practice insurance policy have fallen by about half since 2011.
The data also show that, since the 1960s, most religious discrimination claims have emanated from the services and the wholesale and retail trade industries, which together account for more than half of the cases.
Advisen data show that there is a 95 percent chance that religious discrimination cases will result in losses of less than $10,000, and a 50 percent chance of a loss closer to $100,000.
