Ameritech Benefit Plan Committee v. Communication Workers of America, 220 F.3d 814 (7^th Cir. 2000)-Two female employees challenged their ineligibility for an early retirement package on the grounds that their employer failed to heed the 1979 Pregnancy Discrimination Act when it did not recalculate years of service to include pre-1979 pregnancy leaves as covered short-term disability instead of mere "personal leave." The women (whose cases the Court later consolidated with a class action) alleged violations of Title VII, ERISA, the Equal Pay Act, and various state laws.

This court affirmed the district court's summary judgment against their claims. On the Title VII claim, the court sided with the line of cases, which declined to make "continuing impact" the basis of a present claim of discrimination. Additionally, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(h) "specifically exempts discriminatory effects that flow from bona fide seniority systems from the definition of unlawful employment practices, as long as the differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate."

As for the ERISA claims, the court cautioned against "shoe-horning a discrimination claim into the ERISA notion of fiduciary duty" because ERISA "does not itself proscribe discrimination in the provision of employee benefits." Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85 (1983).  The section 510 retaliation failed because "section 510 only applies if the employees can show (among other things) that they qualified under the plan for the denied benefits."