MASS. UNMARRIED GAY COUPLES LOSE BENEFITS: From the Boston Globe

Many of the state's largest employers are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Massachusetts companies, some of which pioneered so-called domestic-partner benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners, said they are now withdrawing them for reasons of fairness: If gays and lesbians can now marry, they should no longer receive special treatment in the form of health benefits that were not made available to unmarried, opposite-sex couples. ...

No data are available on how many employers that offered the benefits are dropping them in Massachusetts. Typically, the proportion of employees who avail themselves of domestic-partner benefits is small, ranging from less than 1 percent at some employers to perhaps 2 percent. ...

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, a New England advocacy organization, argues that taking them away is an unfair hardship, because the decision to marry is still more difficult for gay and lesbian couples. Unlike opposite-sex married couples, gay married couples will have to pay taxes on their benefits to the Internal Revenue Service, because federal law defines marriage as a partnership solely between a man and a woman. Gay marriage can also jeopardize enlistees' military status, and gay couples who marry may be barred from international adoptions. Some said they simply aren't ready to marry just because a longstanding barrier to marriage was suddenly lifted. ...

Among employers that provide domestic-partner benefits, those dropping them are the exception, said Russell Isaia, partner in the Boston law firm Bingham McCutchen. "It's been largely a nonevent," he said.

more

posted by Eve at 3:28 AM VOTE

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home