The State : Pregnancy Benefits OKd

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that companies are required to offer male employees’ wives the same benefits for pregnancy as for other disabilities--and that these benefits are retroactive to 1979, when federal guidelines were issued. The decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was reached just 24 hours after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reversed the decision of a U.S. district judge who had ruled that the benefits were not required before the date of a 1983 Supreme Court ruling that clarified a 1979 federal law. The two circuit courts decided that refusal to require the benefits retroactively would make it worthwhile for an employer to wait as long as possible to comply with new laws.