The District Court for the Central District Court of California upheld an employer's right to exclude leased employees from participation in its employee benefits plans. The plaintiffs alleged that the employer's benefits plans, which specifically excluded leased employees, violated the minimum participation standards set out in section 202 of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act 1974). The Court noted that employers are not required by ERISA to make their ERISA plans available to all common law employees and held that, to recover under section 202, the claimants must be eligible for benefits under the terms of the plan itself.
Source: Moxley v. Texaco, Inc., 20001 U.S. Dist LEXIS 3930 (C.D. Cal 2001). Howard Pianko, Epstein Becker & Green