128
Opinion of the Court
to 36-345 (1981 and Supp. 1992). Section 2(c)(2) of the Equity Amendment Act added the following requirement:
"Any employer who provides health insurance coverage for an employee shall provide health insurance coverage equivalent to the existing health insurance coverage of the employee while the employee receives or is eligible to receive workers' compensation benefits under this chapter." D. C. Code Ann. § 36-307(a-1)(1) (Supp. 1992).
Under § 2(c)(2), the employer must provide such health insurance coverage for up to 52 weeks "at the same benefit level that the employee had at the time the employee received or was eligible to receive workers' compensation benefits." § 36-307(a-1)(3).
Respondent Greater Washington Board of Trade, a nonprofit corporation that sponsors health insurance coverage for its employees, filed this action against the District of Columbia and Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly seeking to enjoin enforcement of § 2(c)(2) on the ground that the "equivalent" benefits requirement is pre-empted by § 514(a) of ERISA. The District Court granted petitioners' motion to dismiss. App. to Pet. for Cert. 21a. Petitioners conceded that § 2(c)(2) "relate[s] to" an ERISA-covered plan in the sense that the benefits required under the challenged law "are set by reference to covered employee benefit plans." Id., at 22a. Relying on our opinion in Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U. S. 85 (1983), however, the District Court held that § 2(c)(2) is not pre-empted because it also relates to respondent's workers' compensation plan, which is exempt from ERISA coverage, and because respondent could comply with § 2(c)(2) "by creating a 'separate administrative unit' to administer the required benefits." App. to Pet. for Cert. 24a (quoting Shaw, supra, at 108).
The Court of Appeals reversed. 292 U. S. App. D. C. 209, 948 F. 2d 1317 (1991). The court held that pre-emption of
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