A handful of companies, including Gucci, Levi’s and E.l.f., preemptively changed their health-care and travel expenses guidelines in May when a leaked memo from Supreme Court justices previewed their decision on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. But on June 24, the floodgates opened.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling to formally overturn Roe v. Wade, Ulta Beauty was one of the largest U.S. beauty companies to announce on social media and via PR that, “We are committed to providing equitable access to quality health-care options and to ensuring those enrolled in our medical plan can access covered health care. Effective Friday, June 24, this support was extended to include travel expense assistance for eligible reproductive health services where access to care is restricted.” Ulta Beauty has more than 40,000 associates. Fellow beauty conglomerates Estée Lauder Companies, L’Oréal and LVMH made similar statements soon after, as did multiple smaller brands.

But the question as to whom these policies apply, and whether they include store and distribution associates and unionized employees, remains. Furthermore, none of the policies from the above companies provide clarity on how an employee will be able to opt in to these benefits. The idea of an employee simply telling an HR representative that they need an abortion, as though it were a regular vacation or T&E request, seems farfetched. Ulta Beauty, L’Oréal and LVMH, the parent company of Sephora, Fenty Beauty, Benefit Cosmetics and Guerlain declined to provide further detail on their policies. ELC, Coty and Walmart did not respond to requests for comment.

For these larger organizations, health-care coverage and abortion-related travel-and-expense reimbursement likely extend to those enrolled in a company’s health-care plan. For instance, Unilever’s coverage applies to all U.S. employees, spouses, domestic partners and dependents enrolled in its medical benefit plan, according to industry sources. Unilever, parent company to Dove and Tatcha, was one of many firms that joined the Don’t Ban Equality coalition, announced in May, pledging to provide employees with comprehensive reproductive health-care benefits and cover travel costs if care is no longer available in their home states. Sources familiar with Unilever’s U.S. operation estimate that more than 40% of its employees live in states that ban or restrict abortion access. Unilever declined to provide further information on its abortion-related policies.

It is somewhat understandable that companies are starting with benefit-enrolled employees first. But nearly 40 million women of childbearing age live in abortion-hostile states, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Only in 20 states and the District of Columbia is abortion legal and likely to stay protected. That staggering number is well beyond the smattering who work for companies that offer this type of coverage and, secondly, choose to be enrolled in company health care plans, posing a great …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron