Contraception mandate: Domino’s Pizza founder exempt from new rule for now

The founder of Domino’s Pizza does not have to provide contraception coverage to the employees of his current company, property management business Domino's Farms Corp., when the provision of the Affordable Care Act goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2013, the Associated Press reported.

US District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff has granted Michigan businessman Tom Monaghan a temporary restraining order that allows him to avoid offering contraception coverage to his employees until a final decision is made in his lawsuit seeking an exemption from the new mandate, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Monaghan – who sold most of his controlling stake in Domino’s Pizza to Bain Capital – is a devout Catholic who says he believes contraception is a “gravely immoral” practice, the AP reported.

Zatkoff wrote that Monaghan has shown that “abiding by the mandate will substantially burden his exercise of religion,” the Detroit Free Press reported.

There are several similar lawsuits in the courts nationwide, the AP reported.

The temporary restraining order saves Monaghan from being fined for now.

According to the Detroit Free Press:

If Monaghan chose not to provide healthcare coverage as a way to avoid the mandate to provide contraceptives, such as the Plan B and morning-after pills, he’d be hit with an estimated $200,000 in fines, according to court documents.

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