<p>Someone on the vaccine thread suggested we take the Hobby Lobby hijack to a new thread, so this new article seems just as good a reason as any to comply.</p>
<p>Why yes. I get statements from H’s benefits department with that information and the plan administrator (in my instance NYS) has a fiduciary responsibility to know what they are investing both state and employees funds in. </p>
<p>But are the hearings for Hobby Lobby over? Would this be brought to the SCOTUS’ attention? </p>
<p>Well, one would like to think they read the papers. In any case, the court will rule however the court (one justice) wants to rule. Don’t forget the individual mandate was okayed as a tax despite the fact that the government spent years claiming it was essential and not a tax and now it’s basically evaporated, anyway. Tortured logic (hypocrisy) is typical.</p>
<p>It is also true that one can choose to invest in funds that specifically do not hold stock in arms and tobacco manufacters, for example. Hobby Lobby could easily direct their financial managers to avoid certain investments. If it <em>really</em> mattered to them. </p>
<p>Yes, the arguments are over and the Supreme Court can only look to the record presented. They absolutely won’t look at theological arguments about whether God would not approve of paying for BC but God would allow investing in pharma companies that produce them. </p>
<p>Doesn’t the employee select the 401(k) investment plan and use his/her own money to buy it? This would be different from the company directly using its money to subsidize a medical plan. Maybe that is the distinction.</p>
<p>Many companies have separate 401k managers. Employees may be allowed to chose from several different one or from different plans within a provider. We have TR Price. My employer (government) doesn’t have any money in it as it is an employee investment vehicle, not a employer (or business) investments vehicle. The owners of Hobby Lobby may have no investment at all in the pharm companies.</p>
<p>A very easy way to solve this is to have the government provide free birth control directly to citizens. No need for a middleman to be told what to do, just have the government pay for it directly. Florida requires vaccines for all children so provides them for free and also provides those not required. Yup, I can pay $350 for a Garasil shot at the doctor’s office or $0 at the county health department. Same for all shots, from flu on up. Guess which one I picked? </p>
<p>Will Hobby lobby be paying for birth control through taxes? Sure, but they aren’t going to win a fight about not paying taxes. Why do we make this so difficult?</p>
<p>I suppose one could argue that Hobby Lobby is being the opposite of a hypocrite by offering its employees the opportunity to invest their own money in causes which it does not support.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t the employee select the 401(k) investment plan and use his/her own money to buy it?”</p>
<p>Usually, the company offers several different investment options an employee can choose from and either the company or a company they hire manages the funds. Many companies contribute a certain percentage or match what the employee contributes from the employees salary. </p>
<p>But even if Hobby Lobby doesn’t contribute anything to the plan, it has a fiduciary responsibility to know what is being offered to their employees in the companies 401K plan under ERISA. But apparently the deeply held “religion of the corporation” was OK with that and also OK with offering the BC prior to 2013 and that they now are objecting to because of the, “deeply held religion of the corporation.” </p>
<p>Anyone remember this lovely comment by a Hobby Lobby employee, who apparently said this, last year in response to being asked why they didn’t carry Chanukah decorations or menorahs:
<p>Neither employing someone to manage the 401(k) investments, nor matching employee contributions amounts to Hobby Lobby investing in these plans/companies. Matching funds are the property of the employee, who chooses where to invest them.</p>
<p>Do you have any reason to believe that Hobby Lobby didn’t know what companies were included in these plans? And if they did, why does that matter since they are not spending any of their money on them? Would you prefer that Hobby Lobby imposed rules upon its employees regarding how they could spend their own money?</p>