Round One To The Evil Empire

You may be aware that a few months ago, Maryland passed a law which mandated that employers over a certain size within their state to spend at least 8% of their payroll to provide health care for their workers. The only entity which this affected was Wal-Mart.

As you may know, I am not a fan of Wal-Mart.

In any event, Wal-Mart, through The Retail Industry Leaders Association, brought suit to declare the law invalid. The suit was venued before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland where the Hon. Judge J. Frederick Motz concluded that the Maryland law conflicted with ERISA and were therefore preempted.

So despite the fact that Wal-Mart is one of the most profitable companies going it, it will continued to be allowed a free ride on health care for the majority of its workers by forcing them to rely on Medicaid and other state options.

There is talk that Maryland will appeal this ruling to the 4th Circuit. Good luck to them.