Maryland drops attempt to fine Wal-Mart over health benefits

Maryland is giving up on a fruitless yearlong effort to charge Wal-Mart Stores Inc. a fine unless the retailer provides better health benefits to employees.

Attorney General Douglas Gansler said Monday that Maryland would not appeal a second federal ruling rejecting the state's law that would require large employers to spend a certain amount on health benefits or pay the difference to the state.

The way Maryland's law was written, only Wal-Mart would've been affected, and an industry group including Wal-Mart effectively argued that the company was unfairly singled out in violation of federal laws.

In a statement Monday, Gansler said the matter was dropped because an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was unlikely to succeed.

''The reason we are not seeking review is not because we think the law is unconstitutional. . . . What the courts found was that the law was pre-empted by a very broad federal law'' about health benefits, Gansler said.

The Wal-Mart bill was intended to chip away at the high cost of Medicaid coverage, but it was never enforced. The measure was first passed in 2005, then vetoed by then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich. In 2006, the Democratic legislature passed the bill into law over Ehrlich's veto, but the law was immediately challenged by the Retail Industry Leaders Association, based in Arlington, Va.

RILA's president applauded Maryland's decision, calling the law discriminatory.

AP

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