Montgomery, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has spearheaded a 23-state amicus brief seeking to overturn a decision by a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel’s decision mandates that employers offering healthcare coverage must pay for an employee’s sex-change operation or face liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Marshall, along with the attorneys general of Florida and Georgia, urged the entire Eleventh Circuit to rehear the case and correct the panel’s ruling.
The case in question involves an employee who sought coverage for a sex-change operation to transition from male to female. Upon learning that the employer’s insurance would not cover the procedure, the employee sued under Title VII, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. A divided Eleventh Circuit panel found that the employer could be liable for not covering the operation, interpreting Title VII as requiring such coverage.
Attorney General Marshall described the panel’s decision as radical and argued that it fundamentally alters the intent of Title VII by necessitating favored treatment for transgender employees, potentially leading to extensive consequences for employers regarding liability and legal clarity. Marshall called for the full Eleventh Circuit to correct the decision.
The brief, led by Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, was joined by attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
