Supreme Court rules on ERISA exemption

Description

Abstract: The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that could free church-affiliated hospitals from the costly burden of complying with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This article explains the exemption under which some plans for employees of churches or church-affiliated nonprofits — such as hospitals — qualify as “church plans” even though not actually administered by a church. The article adds the caveat that hospitals seeking to take advantage of the church plan exemption to ERISA must be able to establish principal-purpose status for their plans — and the bodies that maintain them. Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton, No. 16-74, U.S.S.C., June 5, 2017