Sterling Computers Corporation v. Haskell

**What happened:** Two state employee health plans - one in North Carolina for teachers and state workers, and another in West Virginia for state employees - excluded coverage for gender-affirming medical care. Employees challenged these exclusions in court, arguing they were discriminatory and violated federal law. **What the court decided:** The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the employees. The court found that excluding gender-affirming medical care from state employee health plans violated federal anti-discrimination laws. The appeals court upheld earlier district court decisions that sided with the workers. **Why this matters for workers:** This ruling establishes that state employee health plans cannot categorically exclude gender-affirming medical treatments. It strengthens protections for transgender and gender non-conforming public employees by ensuring their health insurance provides equal coverage. The decision affects thousands of state workers in North Carolina and West Virginia who previously faced discriminatory health plan exclusions. While this ruling specifically applies to state employees in these jurisdictions, it may influence similar cases nationwide and encourage other workers to challenge discriminatory health plan exclusions in their own workplaces.