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December 27th, 2012
07:20 PM ET
Hobby Lobby faces millions in fines for bucking ObamacareBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Washington (CNN)– Craft store giant Hobby Lobby is bracing for a $1.3 million a day fine beginning January 1 for noncompliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. The company opposes providing some contraceptives to employees through its company health care plan on religious grounds, saying some contraceptive products, like the morning after pill, equate to abortion. After failing to receive temporary relief from the fines from the Supreme Court, Hobby Lobby announced late Thursday through its attorneys that it "will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees. To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs." In September, Hobby Lobby and affiliate Mardel, a Christian bookstore chain, sued the federal government for violating their owners' religious freedom and ability to freely exercise their religion. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter "All they're asking for is a narrow exemption from the law that says they don't have to provide drugs they believe cause abortions," Hobby Lobby attorney Kyle Duncan, a general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told CNN affiliate KFOR in November. "Our basic point is the government can't put a corporation in the position of choosing between its faith and following the law." The lawsuit says the companies' religious beliefs prohibit them from providing insurance coverage for abortion inducing drugs. As of August 2012, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires employer-provided health care plans to provide "all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity," according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Churches and houses of worship are exempt from the regulation and a narrow exemption was added for nonprofit religious employers whose employees "primarily share its religious tenets" and who "primarily serve persons who share its religious tenets." In the face of that opposition, the Department of Health and Human Services tweaked its original rule in February to require health insurers, not employers, to cover the cost of contraception coverage, reasoning that would prevent religious groups from having to finance such coverage. Critics have argued that exemption for nonprofits is far too narrow and a host of nonprofit religious groups have sued the administration over the regulations. The Internal Revenue Service regulations now say that a group health care plan that "fails to comply" with the Affordable Care Act is subject to an "excise tax" of "$100 per day per individual for each day the plan does not comply with the requirement." It remains unclear how the IRS would implement and collect the excise tax. The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, based Hobby Lobby chain has more than 500 stores that employ 13,000 employees across 42 states, and takes in $2.6 billion in sales. The company's attorneys say January begins a new health care plan year for Hobby Lobby and that excise tax from the IRS would amount to $1.3 million a day. Hobby Lobby is owned by CEO and founder David Green and members of his family. "The foundation of our business has been, and will continue to be strong values, and honoring the Lord in a manner consistent with biblical principles," a statement on the Hobby Lobby website reads, adding that one outgrowth of that is the store is closed on Sundays to give its employees a day of rest. Each year the company also takes out full-page ads in numerous newspapers proclaiming its faith at Christmastime and on Independence Day. The store is not formally connected to any denomination, but the Green family supports numerous Christian ministries and is behind the Green Collection, one of the largest private collections of biblical antiquities in the world. The family plans to permanently house the collection in Washington at a museum set to open in 2016. On Friday, attorneys for Hobby Lobby petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene and provide temporary relief from the the fines until the case was decided by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Wednesday evening, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles emergency appeals from the 10th Circuit Court, said the company failed to meet "the demanding standard for the extraordinary relief," and that it could continue to pursue its challenge in lower courts and return to the higher court, if necessary, after a final judgment. "Hobby Lobby will continue their appeal before the 10th Circuit. The Supreme Court merely decided not to get involved in the case at this time," Duncan said in a statement. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on the high court's move. White House officials have long said they believe they have struck an appropriate compromise between religious exemptions and women's health. The White House has not commented specifically on the Hobby Lobby case. "It's just so sad that Hobby Lobby is facing this choice. What company, even a successful family owned business like Hobby Lobby, how can they afford the government $1.3 million in fines every day? It's just really absurd that government is not giving on this," said Maureen Ferguson, a senior policy adviser for the Catholic Association. Religious liberty groups like hers are watching the Hobby Lobby case closely. "I am optimistic that these cases will eventually snake their way back up to the Supreme Court and given a full hearing on the merits of the case, I am confident that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of religious liberty," Ferguson said. "But in the meantime there is serious damage being done to businesses like Hobby Lobby and nonprofit charitable organizations." The Hobby Lobby case is just one of many before the courts over the religious exemption aspects of the law. The case represents by far the biggest for-profit group challenging the health care mandate. After this piece of the law went into effect in August, religious nonprofits were given "safe harbor" of one year from implementing the law. "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said in January when the administration announced the move. Dolan's New York Archdiocese won a victory this month in its legal battle against the administration and the mandate. In May it sued the government in federal court in Brooklyn over the mandate, saying it "unconstitutionally attempts to define the nature of the church's religious ministry and would force religious employers to violate their consciences." The government moved to have the case dismissed. On December 4, Judge Brian M. Cogan denied the government's motion to dismiss the case, saying the government's promise of changes to how it will implement the law were not enough to merit dismissal. "There is no, 'Trust us, changes are coming' clause in the Constitution," Cogan wrote in in his decision to let the case proceed. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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If they hire from the general public, they have no right to enforce their religious beliefs on their employees. I say the store should be boycotted until they comply.
They are also two faced in that many of their products come from China. A country known for their strict use of Population Controls. They apparently have no problem profiting from the practice but they sure as hell don't want to pay for it.
I won't be shopping there.
You're now prolife?
Let's think people, a business owner is trying to control your freedom of choice. If you work for a company they just need to provide you with health care and don't tell you how you are suppose to use it. If you are an atheist and work for Hobby Lobby you can't get birth control? Who is stepping on your rights? Keep religion where it should be in your heart, mind, home and place that you worship.
Standard Christian doctrine............."1Cr 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"............The Beast's doctrine of separation of church and state is meaningless and just feel good talk. You want Christians out of the gubmint and culture? Just kill em like the children in your wombs.
Barack Hussein Stalin is trying to shove his failures down people's throats.
Awww. Somebody's still upset over the election. And thinks they are Nostradamus as well. Aww, even my lil baby doesn't fuss this much. lol.
It's tough being a bigot.
ya but the real laugh will come when more businesses begin refusing to pay
Yeah right. Businesses love their money as much as anyone. Bottom line wins all the time.
Employers are not required to provide health insurance coverage for their employees. Less than 60% of the American work force is covered by employer-provided health insurance. If they do provide health insurance coverage, they must meet the minimum requirements of the law of the land governing health insurance coverage. Exemptions are available for churches, but not for secular, for-profit corporations owned by people who go to church. Allowing people to decide which laws they will obey and which laws they will defy is anarchy, and invites every person and every corporation to determine to what extent every law will apply to them. In this case, the Greens have based their outlawry on bad science, which is ironic in that their faith is based on no science at all.
the day "religions" start paying taxes, then they can bitc.h, until then they should keep it inside the "church".
I aggree, but do not limit it to just churches. Also include all the people who do not pay taxes.
Thank you. My feelings exactly.
Sorry but they do pay taxes. All employees pay income tax, they do pay sales tax, they do pay real estate tax and various other local forms of tax. Not to mention many churches are closing or barely staying open due to lack of funding. Taxation would force many churches to close their doors. As citizens of this country any member or employee of a church should have as much right to voice their opinion as you do.
I wonder if HL Pays for Viagra? Elective sterilization for men and women?
Excellent point,
When HOBBY LOBBY writes a paycheck, the money comes from their account, but its being transferred to someone else as compensation for labor. It means the money doesn't belong to HOBBY LOBBY anymore. They don't get to decide how the paycheck gets spent. It's not theirs.
Insurance is compensation for labor. It's part of YOUR compensation package. The money used to buy it, much like your paycheck, might have come from HOBBY LOBBY's accounts, but it isn't THEIR insurance. If the employee stops working, HOBBY LOBBY will stop paying for the insurance. The insurance isn't theirs to decide what it should or shouldn't cover; just as your paycheck isn't theirs anymore.
Agree, they should just drop the coverage. Tell the employees to get their own
well said @monte!
Monte, that is the best idea. Health insurance should not be provided by the employer. A single-payer system is cheaper and provides more effective healthcare.
There should be an opt-out option, Obama's communism just won't work here.
You appear to have no idea what communism is. Why do you continue with the Koch brothers dialogue? Obama is never going to be up for reelection so to continue their campaign against him is futile.
I think there is an option. But it's gonna cost ya. lol.
People must obey the law. Corporations must obey the law, even ones they don't like. Corporation have to pay for all sorts of things they'd rather not.
What I find amazing here is that corporations aren't members of a faith. Corporations don't attend religious services and corporations don't go to hell if they are naughty. What's really going on here is that the management of a corporation is trying to exert it's religious will over its employees!
Let me put an even finer point on my comment......
The money the law is requiring the management to spend is not the management's money; it's the corporation's money. How is this a violation of the manager's freedom of religion? Nobody is asking him or her to use or pay for contraceptives, only the corporation he or she works for.
You took the words out of my mouth. Since when does a corporation have a faith? Even assuming it did, isn't forcing all of your employees to follow your choice of faith quite a serious first amendment violation?
If Corporations HAVE to follow the law, then the corporation behind Hobby Lobby is simply being singled out when a PLETHORA of offenders are out in plain sight.
This is yet another ridiculous newroom distraction, in a seemingly endless sea of them. Nothing to see here folks. Your minds are being tweaked...again...
ah, citizens united declared a corp to be one .. i am not sure how the supreme court chick forgot that .. the corp of one can say and do what it wants to do and put it's money where it wants too ... and where does this fine of each employee come from ?? again citizens united said the corp is one .... that is only a $100 per day ... the supreme court already said .. so i dont get the obamacare saying no and yet the supreme court said yes ... faith has nothing to do here .. the corp is one and therefore only one ... supreme court said so
hmm, having been to the store and found nothing I was looking for, it's obvious the owner has head up a...
its called freedom of religion dont like it move to 1984 Russia, libtards!
it's called violation of the law, pay fines, go to jail, be a totalmoron.
Larry,
I don't know that those numbers you are throwing out are correct, but here is what I found..."In 2011 the three oil giants mentioned above paid more income tax than any other American corporation. ExxonMobil paid $27.3 billion in income tax, Chevron paid $17 billion, and ConocoPhillips paid $10.6 billion." Sounds to me like the oil companies are subsidizing the government. A "subsidy" is just a fancy word for saying they let the company keep a little more of the money it earned.
And if the government was paying some $7.00 a gallon of gas, which it isn't, then we can no longer afford to do so. We are in incredible debt as it is,and eventually someone is going to have to pay the piper, I would rather suck it up now then let my kids do it or my grand kids.
There is no reason to think that increasing revenues and making judicious cuts in some programs will reduce the deficit, and there's no need for Draconian cuts to programs that make life here better than life in some 3rd world sh!thole. If you want to go live in one of those, go ahead, Ron. But I don't, and I probably pay far more in taxes than you do. I'm willing to fork over more, and that includes paying more to make sure that women have access to BC. And guess what? Our side won. Yours lost. Get over it. The election was LAST month. Find a new hobby horse.
Edit: no reason to think...will NOT reduce the deficit.
And this is what happens when a clueless leader tries to force his policies on people who do not want them. This would be the equivalent of forcing atheist owned companies to have Bible readings at corporate lunch time. To bad most "Christian" African Americans voted for the incompetent one...
Has anyone ever thought of how cost effective abstinence is???????
Hmmm, no that would be too difficult, for any educated or even non-educated woman to keep her legs closed.
Why is the responsibility on the woman? Why cant the man show no interest?
"abstinence"
That works so well in the country where they have abstinence pledges but yet the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the modern world. That is not a reasonable expectation or are you jealous that others are getting some and you're not?
S ex is as natural as eating food. If we spent more time educating our kids we wouldn't have this issue.
That's right, those whores should keep their legs together, and this whole problem would go away. Contraceptives should be outlawed, they're only used for nefarious sinful purposes by people making terrible lifestyle choices.
So, married women should then abstain? Are YOU married? Male? What do you plan to do when your wife tells you "not tonight, or ever"?
@sam.....If women stop having s ex, who are men going to have s ex with?
I think it is an absolute joke that churches are still demmed non-profit. Religion is one of the most lucrative businesses on the planet. It is time for them to pay taxes and adhere to the supreme court backed policies Obama has set forth. As Nine Inch Nails puts it perfectly and sarcastically "I sure wouldn't want to be praying to the wrong piece of wood.."
Nice try, won't happen! A "A" for effort
So what happened with the congressional, ahem investigation?
They have those little Flintstone vitamins. So maybe the pope would officially go along with the morning after pills if they just make the Catholic version of those look like the pope. You know, so that you kind of get his blessing on things as it goes down. Plus, they probably would be easy to swallow if you put them in your mouth with his hat end first.
You're usually not this juvenile mama. Feeling ok?
Bill Deacon
Did you get to kiss the Bishop's ring today, or do you have to wait for Sunday mass.
Surprise you have a fixation about me and the Bishop don't you?
Bill Deacon
Not really Bill. I just wonder how blind your obediance to the church is. What other tricks did the hierarchy teach you besides sit, kneel, stand up, sing, sit, kneel , stand up........
Could they be chewable? And maybe, a gummy version. That would be cool.
Or even better, if you are on welfare or any type of public assistance, you will have to have your tubes tied until you are able to support the baby
That would go a long way to stopping all of the trailer trash bible belt pregnancies that are bankrupting our country.
So true, it would also limit the number of future welfare liberals in the future.
I presume you include corporate welfare in that – Wall Street bailouts, Oil company subsidies, untaxed offshore revenue, etc.
Nope
"So true, it would also limit the number of future welfare liberals in the future"
You do realize that the largest welfare block is the white southern red states, and the largest welfare demographic is the white southern bible belt female. You know, the red state white southerners, who have a higher welfare rate, divorce rates, teen pregnancy rates, and STD rates than those pesky liberal blue states.
You knew that right?
Because you took the time to look up the readily available census data didn't you.
So, we agree than, it really does not matter where people live, just as it solves the problem
Derp, royalty is big on marryin' close relatives. Ever heard of Trailer Park Avenue trash?
We should all go into Hobby Lobby and replace the "Made in China" stickers with "Made in country that forces abortions on it's citizens"
I wonder how many of the christards would by the cheap crap anyway.
Its, not it's.
China doesn't force abortions on its citizens (and yes, I've lived there). The one Child policy only ever applied to people in the cities (a minority) and violating it only ever meant that you lost the special privileges of being an urban dweller. The US media massively has massively misrepresented this policy. Compare China and India over the last 30 years to see how encouraging people to limit reproduction works.
One thing great about the pill, no more crack babies! Can the government force these women to take the pill every month?
sterilizing every non-white at puberty would go far into having population control and resource demand drops.
lol
Seeing how there considerably more white people on welfare than any other race, I fail to see how that would work.
I would do the whites to, if this was done a long time ago, we would not have so many stupid people today who voted for Oboma
"stupid people today who voted for Oboma"
Most stupid people can't spell Obama.
Why do I have to spell it right, most uneducated people who voted for him don't care.
Sorry, guess you do.
"most uneducated people who voted for him don't care"
Most uneducated people can't spell Obama.
Do you want to keep this up?
yep, I would not even give the man the respect, i mean to spell his name right. Who gives a flying F k about this piece of s t
Ok Monte your a racist. We get the point.
No, actually I am not.
BS............I can smell the racism through the screen. You make up stuff, exaggerate, push hate just like the birthers and the republican party. HE WON, GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON.
Its very funny how people can not disagree anymore without being called a racist.
What you write is beyond disagreement. The man literally kept the country out of a depression, saved the BANKING industry, the car industry and over 32 months of job growth, killed Osama Bin Laden and still he's called incompetent. Unbelievable.
Hi, Hobby Lobby! It seems that you have confused your for-profit corporation as being a non-profit religious organization. Here is the IRS pamphlet that will help you to fix that misconception. Glad to be of help.
Source: www dot irs dot gov slash pub slash irs dash pdf slash p1828 dot pdf
All IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches
and religious organizations, must abide by certain rules:
■ their net earnings may not inure to any private
shareholder or individual,
■ they must not provide a substantial benefit to private
interests,
■ they must not devote a substantial part of their
activities to attempting to influence legislation,
■ they must not participate in, or intervene in, any
political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to)
any candidate for public office, and
■ the organization’s purposes and activities may not
be illegal or violate fundamental public policy.
Churches and religious organizations, like many other
charitable organizations, qualify for exemption from
federal income tax under IRC section 501(c)(3) and
are generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
To qualify for tax-exempt status, such an
organization must meet the following requirements
(covered in greater detail throughout this publication):
■ the organization must be organized and operated
exclusively for religious, educational, scientific, or other
charitable purposes,
■ net earnings may not inure to the benefit of any
private individual or shareholder,
■ no substantial part of its activity may be attempting
to influence legislation,
■ the organization may not intervene in political
campaigns, and
■ the organization’s purposes and activities may not
be illegal or violate fundamental public policy.
Religious Organizations
Unlike churches, religious organizations that wish
to be tax exempt generally must apply to the IRS for
tax-exempt status unless their gross receipts do not
normally exceed $5,000 annually.
"................ fundamental public policy............" Oh, oh. The A&A's don't like that word, the F word.
In one sentence,,,,,
People's moral and civil rights are nowadays subjected to Federalism, the father of secularism and divorcee of theocracy whose many so many children are the abolitionists within Christendom's creeds of many now marrying the servile atheists euphemisms giving rises to the damned younger infidels of socially perverse pragmatisms demeaning via emotionalized pleasurable natures leading down the future's vile lamentations of embittered communalisms reaping the awaiting harbingers’ coming wraths.
Uhm, linlylamb: why in the world would you want to do business with, or support, a corporation that buys most of the products–that it resales at ridiculous markup to Americans–from China, which enforces forced abortions–including late-term abortions- on its citizens, especially if the fetus is female? Why would you ever want to support a business that took American manufacturing jobs away from Americans, and shipped them to Chinese and other Asian sweatshops and forced labor camps?
How "Christian" is that??!! Can you please tell me?
Chilippeppr111,
Where in my 'one sentence' did you find it worthy of asking such questioning? Although, you asked me a couple of questions, they are not what I did infer upon in my 'one sentence' post.
What sentence? You never wrote a sentence worth the name in your entire life.
No one here believe you wrote that 'sentence'. You copied it from somewhere and you know it. Also, I believe the questions posed to you are legitimate giving the content of what you wrote, because what you posted is clearly an attempt to say that your religous beliefs make you morally superior to others. So, what was basically asked of you is, "How can you claim to be so holy and moral when you buy products from a place that does business with a government that forces abortions upon its citizens just to save yourself a couple of bucks?" It's valid so answer it.
Stiv,
Just what the hell are you insinuating? I'm no fvcking church goer! My body is God's building just as are all folks bodies God's buildings. Keep your a s s I n I n e comments flowing but don't let the logs floating by nick you in the butt!
you must be apart of the westboro "church" lol