Domestic partner benefits and FMLA rights for same-sex couples

¶ … Family Medical Leave Act and how it relates to homosexual couples. The writer explores various companies that provide benefits for domestic partners as well as state statutes that mandate such policies.

FMLA and Domestic Partner Relationships

For many years employees had to worry that if their children became seriously ill, their spouse got cancer, or their elderly parents had a stroke the employee would have to choose between taking care of that loved one or losing one's job. It was a hard decision that created stress not only for the affected employee but his or her co-workers as well when they realized it could easily happen to them too. It all changed in 1993 when President Bill Clinton signed the Family Medical Leave Act into law, providing the right for employees of large companies, who had worked for at least a year, the right to take a leave to care for themselves or a loved on in the event of illness or the birth of a child (Wisendale, 2003).

The nation rejoiced in the news, until it realized the conservative nature of the mandate. The FMLA does not cover non-traditional couples. This means that heterosexual couples who live together without being married and gay couples are not eligible nor are they protected by the federal act.

In today's society many couples are non-traditional. They are fully committed to each other and their life together but for various reasons are not married. Same sex couples are not allowed to be married and many heterosexual couples don't believe the government should force them to have a formal ceremony to commit to each other.

The FMLA leaves those couples out in the cold. Recently companies across the nation have taken a close look at the impact refusing domestic partner benefits has on the morale of their workforce and have decided to implement benefits on their own (Wisendale, 2003). In addition some states have made the move to mandate coverage for domestic partners through their jobs.

FMLA

The FMLA allows workers who have been employed at a company with over 50 employees for at least one year, to take up to 12 weeks off without pay to care for seriously ill loved ones or for the birth or adoption of a child. In addition the employee is promised their job back or one that is comparable when they return. The company must also continue the employee's health benefits during the leave, however, if the employee chooses not to return to work after the leave is up he or she must pay those benefits back to the company.

Domestic Partners

While the federal FLMA does not cover domestic partner couples, several states have taken it upon themselves to mandate companies in their geographic areas provide benefits for their employees who are in domestic partnerships.

Recently California introduced and passed legislation that provides for domestic partners to receive identical benefits that traditional couples receive from their workplace. This includes life insurance, FMLA provisions, and other benefits normally provided to married couples and their families (Mayes, 2003).

Washington state also recently implemented mandates that extend workplace benefits to domestic partner couples (Mayes, 2003).

With or without the support of the federal and state governments many companies are making the choice to provide benefits to their domestic partner employees. A recent poll indicated that more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies currently provide benefits to employees who are in same sex relationships (Majority, 2006).

Employee demands, the work of advocacy groups and the consumer power of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community have contributed to this trend. Samir Luther, a project manager at HRC, explains: "Domestic partner benefits are certainly a factor in attracting a GLBT consumer base. Also private employers find that it's necessary to maintain competitiveness for recruiting and retention. As they get larger in revenue and size, they're more likely to have domestic partner benefits (Majority, 2006)."

The Society of Human Resource Management polled its members this year and found that 33% offer benefits to same-sex domestic partners and 32% cover opposite-sex domestic partners, which is no significant change from last year (Majority, 2006)."

The same trend is occurring in the public sector though not as quickly and not on such a wide scale. Currently there are just under 300 colleges, 150 city and county governments and 13 state governments offering their employees domestic partner benefits that are equal to the benefits provided to their married employees.

One of the benefits of including domestic partners in company benefit packages is that it helps to boost the moral of the employees who work at the company. Employees who are in domestic partnerships and work side by side with married couples performing the same jobs, but are excluded from benefits for their families have a hard time keeping their company morale up (Horowitz, 2003). Research reports that they feel like they are treated as second class citizens.

Conclusion

For many years the institute of marriage between a man and a woman was held as sacred by American society, but several decades ago that began to change. Today, many couples are in strong, life-long committed relationships with partners of the opposite sex as well as the same sex. The time has come for employers and governments to realize the changing trends in society and move to protect and encourage their employees in domestic partner relationships to receive benefits for their families.

Most of the business world looks to the Fortune 500 companies for guidance in how to be successful and when more than half of those companies voluntarily choose to provide domestic partner benefits to their non-married employees who are in committed relationships it provides evidence of what such a move does for the overall morale of the company.

The time has come for legislators at the federal level to put laws in place that provide benefits through work for all couples, whether they are domestic partners or married.

Reflection

Before I began this assignment I honestly never gave much though to the lack of benefits that are available for domestic partners. I have gay friends and have friends who are heterosexual and living together without being married, but because it doesn't impact me directly, I didn't give much thought to their benefit situation.