New York City Mandates Health Care Coverage for Certain Retail Employees

From Newsday.com, City rebuffs large retailers in health care bill. Excerpt:

New York City became the first place in the nation yesterday to approve a law, a version of which is on the verge of becoming adopted in Suffolk County, that requires large, non-unionized retailers such as Wal-Mart to set aside money for employees’ health care costs

The New York City Council voted 40-2 (with two abstaining and seven absent) yesterday to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the bill, the Healthcare Security Act, which requires certain retailers to contribute to their employees’ health care costs. They would have to pay the average amount that others in the industry pay per employee.

More from the New York Times here:

In a separate vote, the Council overrode another mayoral veto, passing a law that requires larger groceries and stores with food departments to provide a set level of health care benefits to their workers. It has been called an anti-Wal-Mart measure, based on criticism that Wal-Mart’s employee health benefits are inadequate. Bloomberg administration officials said the Council overstepped its authority because federal law prohibits municipalities from regulating the terms of employee health care plans.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

Other places may follow suit.

Maryland lawmakers passed a bill this year requiring companies with more than 10,000 employees to either spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health-care benefits, or pay more into a state health-care fund. The proposal was vetoed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich, but backers believe they have the votes to override it this winter.

The AFL-CIO has been promoting a tweaked version of the Maryland bill elsewhere and expects versions of it to debut in 35 to 40 state legislatures next year, said the labor federation’s legislative issues coordinator, Naomi Walker.

Lawmakers in Suffolk County, N.Y., on Long Island, also recently approved an ordinance that would require large grocery retailers to give workers a health-care benefit worth at least $3 an hour. The plan is awaiting approval from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who is “leaning toward supporting it,” according to his spokesman, Ed Dumas.

The question raised is whether such laws will survive an ERISA challenge. See some great resources here from the California Health Care Foundation discussing the interplay of ERISA and a California law mandating health coverage which would have gone into effect if voters in California had not struck it down.