The Hobby Lobby is Facing Stiff Fines from the IRS

Hobby Lobby is facing a stiff fine that is going to leave them with a huge amount of debt to the IRS in a short span of time thanks to their decision not to follow all of the new guidelines in the new Obama healthcare program. While the company wracks up the stiff fees that come along with disobeying the new laws, they may be able to get out of the fees thanks to a possible loophole in the new law. The law that they are going against is known as the Affordable Care Act, and it says that they need to cover medication that causes abortions and the company is unwilling to do so. They state that they are unwilling to go along with any law that opposes their religion and that they will battle those laws as well as the penalties that come along with them. In September the Hobby Lobby sued the government for not respecting the religious beliefs of the owner of the company and not allowing them to freely exercise their religion.

The Company’s Religious Background

Hobby Lobby is still a privately owned company that is being kept in the family and they have a strong religious faith. The company closes shop every Sunday so that the employees have at least one day of rest a week. “The foundation of our business has been, and will continue to be strong values, and honoring the Lord in a manner consistent with biblical principles,” This statement is listed on the main website for Hobby Lobby and it also serves to back up the idea that they are a very religious organization.

The Penalty

The law says that any organization that does not follow the regulations of the Affordable Care Act will be subjected to a daily excise tax of $100 per employee. For the Hobby Lobby and their 13,000 employees that comes out to a very pricey $1.3 million each and every day. With the law going into effect over ten days ago they already owe more than $14.3 million to the government if they are not able to get out of the penalties.

The Law

The Affordable Care Act states that every organization needs to provide coverage for any contraceptive methods, as well as sterilization procedures that are supported by the FDA and the Hobby Lobby is directly opposing that section of the Act putting them in the government crosshairs.

Religious Exemption

Even though it sounds like the organization has a good case on their hands, many people are doubting it a little bit. The only organizations that are religiously exempt from regulation are churches, houses of worship, or non-profit organizations where most of the workers also share the same belief as the organization itself. It is pretty clear that the Hobby Lobby does not fit any of those options and that is why their case is going to be a difficult one. The Hobby Lobby case is one of the many religious cases being looked at, but it is the largest for-profit example that is currently being looked at. If they do get away with not covering everything listed in the regulations of the Affordable Care Act they are going to start a precedent that many other organizations are bound to try and capitalize on later on down the road.