Domenic Romano, Employment Attorney at Romano Law, joined Closing Bell to discuss the possible legal fallout for companies that vow to cover costs for their employees to seek out-of-state reproductive care, saying it will undoubtedly result in lawsuits.

Closing Bell

Attorney Discusses Legal Implications of Companies Providing Abortion Support to Employees

Welcome back to cheddar news closing bell. Everyone in the wake of friday's Supreme Court decision to overturn the federal right to an abortion, A growing number of U. S. Companies have offered to reimburse workers who have to travel across state lines for reproductive health care. Well, legal experts say this could expose companies to legal battles in those states with abortion bans already in place. So joining me to help break this down is dominick romano, employment attorney at romano law, Dominic. Thanks so much for coming on simply. There are a lot of questions about what is allowed and what is not allowed in the wake of this decision. Can we expect any legal repercussions from companies who do cover abortion, travel for their employees? Yes, I mean, the forecast is heavy and steady rain of lawsuits here. Um The law is unclear. What is clear, judging from the recent polls of the is that the majority of americans disagree with the Supreme Court's recent decision and many companies are standing up uh and and providing paying expenses for procedures. But most companies are offering to pay for travel, travel related expenses or relocation, not the procedures, the abortion procedures themselves. So for these companies deciding the next move to make Dominic, what are the questions that they would be having internally and deciding what is the kind of care and resources that they do want to provide their workers? Well, they have to be careful because certain states are threatening criminal liability to the companies to the executives who make certain decisions. But those, those attempts to criminalize this corporate activity are going to face two major obstacles. One is federal, interstate Constitution protects interstate commerce and as the Justice Kavanaugh and his concurring opinion intimated, it's going to be hard to prevent encouraging or allowing people to cross state lines to receive a procedure that is legal in another state. The other, the other obstacle that states will face states that try to criminalize or or put impediments of this activity is Marissa, the federal law which prevents states from regulating employers group health plans. It applies to self funded plans which are mostly used by larger employees. Unfortunately, it does not apply to smaller employers who are often subject only to state regulations. So it is interesting, we have a very tight labor market Dominic. We've seen more and more companies take a stand on social matters and cultural matters of late these past few years or so. But employers obviously must believe here that keeping retaining and supporting talent their own workers is worth potential legal battles. Talk to me more about that. Yeah, I think employees and customers are increasingly expecting more from companies. Um, and that includes companies spending on health benefits and becoming publicly involved in social and political issues. We're seeing, you know, the levi Strauss come out and say given what's at stake. Business leaders need to make their voices heard we've seen a company in texas, the ceo of a company sarah Jessica come out and say, employers like us may be the last line of defense, we're seeing the Chief Executive of Salesforce. Salesforce say, I believe that ceos have a responsibility to take care of their employees no matter what. So I think you're going to see companies invest in these legal battles and ultimately, depending on how aggressive some of these states that are banning abortion get, you might see a lot of these corporations prevail in constitutional challenges, but that remains to be seen interesting. So what fight Dominic do you anticipate some of these states might be considering or actually take against companies that are supporting their workers in these states where abortion is already banned or is soon to be banned in the wake of this decision? Well, there, you know, there's chatter of all kinds of proposals. Some texas lawmakers have proposed barring corporations from doing business in the state if they helped pay for their employees out of state procedures. Um, others in that state have have suggested uh suing executives and directors for breaches of fiduciary duty and posting even federal criminal liability and executives who use company money for abortion related expenses without getting approval from company shareholders. But again, I think these efforts are going to see a constitutional challenges here under the interstate commerce laws, how much money is at risk? And what does this mean for the economy? Dominic in the wake of this decision. You know, I think you might you might ultimately see uh if states get certain states get overly aggressive, some, some corporate relocations, I think you might see uh companies find it easier to recruit talent in States that are more permissive with the status quo over the last 50 years, the last half century of jurisprudence that we had since roe versus wade before last week. Mhm. But is is your indication uh that legal fights are bound to happen and this is definitely going to be something that people are going to take to the courts to try to fight. I mean, it's been a 50 year fight to undo roe versus wade. It was successful as of last friday. And I think every indication as you're not in your head is that ah yes, these legal fights are gonna be very real. Absolutely. The fights are continuing in the corporate fights have just begun. Just begun Dominic. We're gonna leave it. There are really good to get your take as we do away more details as to how this will unfold. That's dominick romano. Employment attorney at romano law