U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Halt Healthy S.F. Funding Rule
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Golden Gate Restaurant Association's request for a temporary order barring San Francisco from requiring restaurant owners to contribute toward workers' health care costs through the Healthy San Francisco program, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/31).
GGRA's request for an emergency injunction comes as part of its lawsuit seeking to invalidate Healthy San Francisco's provision requiring businesses with at least 20 workers to:
- Provide health insurance benefits,
- Pay the city for coverage through Healthy San Francisco; or
- Contribute to health care accounts for employees.
The program also relies on funding from the city, state and fees from people enrolled in the program (California Healthline, 3/30).
The restaurant association maintains that the employer requirement violates a federal law governing regulation of employee benefit plans.
According to the Chronicle, the court likely will announce this fall if it will hear GGRA's case (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/31).
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