Christian employers’ transgender lawsuit a success, attorneys say

The Biden administration has agreed to pay $210,000 in attorneys’ fees as part of a stipulation of dismissal, the Alliance Defending Freedom said in a Wednesday statement. North Dakota federal judge Daniel Traynor earlier this year ruled that members of the Christian Employers Association did not have to pay for the transgender procedures of any of their employees. The summary judgment in March settled some claims the association brought, while several other claims remained. The Sept. 24 stipulation of dismissal puts those remaining claims to rest for the time being. The remaining complaints were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that they could be resurrected at a later date.

What is this lawsuit about? The association sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2021. It argued that the EEOC was using an improper interpretation of Title VII, the landmark federal civil rights law, to require Christian employers to pay for the transgender procedures of any of their employees who identified as members of the opposite sex. The association argued doing so violated their deeply held religious beliefs.

The Christian employers also challenged an HHS rule based on a portion of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits insurance providers from discriminating on the basis of sexual identity. The court prohibited HHS from enforcing that portion of the ACA against the association’s members.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how the same North Dakota judge, Daniel Traynor, sided with Catholic employers against the EEOC earlier this week.