Justices ask whether religious hospitals must guarantee workers' pensions

ONE in six American hospitals is affiliated to the Catholic church; many more are sponsored by Lutheran, Methodist, Jewish and other religious organisations. The combination of faith and medicine sometimes leads to struggles over access to women's reproductive care. Advocate Health Care Network (AHCN) v Stapleton, a case the Supreme Court heard on March 27th, shows that the synthesis may pose another problem: shaky retirement security for millions of employees.Pensions are not what they used to be. In the 1970s, more than half of American workers could expect to collect monthly cheques upon retirement. Today, defined-benefit pensions are mainly the preserve of public-sector workers; most companies instead offer defined-contribution plans where the employer and employee set aside funds to incubate a retirement nest egg, with no promise of the income it will generate. But both types of private-sector plan are offered some protection by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), a 1974 law. It sets standards for vesting, requires employers to invest sufficiently to cover future pension liabilities and, through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, offers insurance for retirement...Continue reading
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