3. Survey
• Company size
• Health benefits
– Same-sex partner health benefits?
– Fully-insured / self-insured?
• Non-discrimination policy
– Sexual orientation?
– Gender identity / expression?
– Marital status?
• In a state with same-sex relationship recognition?
6. New York
• Number of Americans living in states with
marriage for same-sex couples more than
doubled: from 16 million to 35 million.
• First legislature to pass marriage outright – not
civil unions or partnerships
• Next three years:
– 21,309 gay and lesbian couples from New York
– another 45,000 from surrounding states
9. Federal Government - Civilian
It is the policy of the Federal Government to treat all of
its employees with dignity and respect and to provide a
workplace that is free from discrimination whether that
discrimination is based on race, color, religion, sex
(including gender identity or pregnancy), national origin,
disability, political affiliation, marital status, membership
in an employee organization, age, sexual orientation, or
other non-merit factors. Agencies should review their
anti-discrimination policies to ensure that they afford a
non-discriminatory working environment to employees
irrespective of their gender identity or perceived gender
non-conformity.
http://www.opm.gov/diversity/Transgender/Guidance.asp
11. At the end of the day…
Your workers define/prioritize their
relationships for themselves and to respect
your employees is to respect their
relationships.
partner/spouse
children
foster children
parents
primary caregiving recipient
12. Impact of Marriage on Employers
• Eligibility for health / other benefits
– Documentation requirements
– Qualifying event for enrollment
– Taxation of employer contributions to coverage
• Workplace climate –
– Tense conversations: marriage bans on the ballot (e.g.,
Prop 8), marriage equality passes - people are going to
talk about it
– Do your workers bring their families to work? (literally
/ figuratively)
13. What Are Relevant Laws
• State
– Constitutional amendments / laws prohibiting
marriage (mini-DOMAs)
– Laws granting relationship recognition
– Regulations on insurance plans
• Federal
– Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
– Employment Retiree Income Security Act (ERISA)
14. Benefits
• Enrollment and benefits materials have an inclusive
definition of spouse (explicit or not)
• All of your benefits!
• Enrollment forms use “Spouse 1” “Spouse 2” language
• Track dependent status of employee’s spouse for
income tax reporting – will vary between state and
federal taxes
http://dbm.maryland.gov/benefits/Documents/HBForms/AffidavitSpousa
EligibilityTaxStatus.pdf
• Equal documentation and burden of proof
• Date the state begins recognizing marriage is a
qualifying event for already-married same-sex spouses
17. Marriage Prohibition State
• Offer partner benefits
• Allow workers to enroll same-sex spouse with
no additional burden of proof than the valid
marriage license
• Track dependent status of employee’s same-
sex spouse/partner
http://www.hrc.org/issues/domestic_partner_tax_dependent
.htm
18. Insurance Options
small employers large employers
Employer
is the
Fully- Self- consumer
& insurer
Insured Insured
(ERISA-regulated,
(primarily state-
exempt from state
Employer regulated)
regulations)
is the
consumer
“commercial” health insurance employer self-funds, insurance co. may act
purchased on the market from an as third party administrator (TPA) or 18
insurance provider administrative services only (ASO)
20. Study: Nearly half of college-educated gay
Americans are in the closet at work
By Liz Goodwin Tue Jun 21, 9:08 am ET
A new study by the Center for Work-Life Policy think tank
has found that 48 percent of college-educated lesbian and
gay Americans hide their sexual orientation at work. About
a third of them are leading "double lives," the report says--
staying in the closet at the office while being "out" in their
personal lives.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110621/us_yblog_thelooko
25. “It's not just the policies, but also how well
they're communicated. What we found is that
people aren't always sure that they have these
policies or what it means, both gay and
straight.”
—Karen Sumberg, Center for Work-Life Policy
28. How LGBT Employees Deal with Anti-
LGBT Comments
http://hrc.org/degreesofequality
29. Transgender Workers Report…
• Double the rate of unemployment
• 47% experienced adverse job action – being
fired, not hired, or denied promotion
• 26% lost a job and 50% were harassed
http://transequality.org/PDFs/NTDS_Exec_Summary.pdf
32. Total Workplace Equality
Policies & • diversity/compliance training on sexual
Benefits orientation & gender identity or expression
• ongoing for supervisors
Internal • employee group
Practices • feedback on internal/ external programs
• education & • self-identification programs
training • engagement surveys
• employee group
• employee records
• retention
• retention programs
• professional development/leadership
External • mentoring
Practices
33. Total Workplace Equality
Policies & • marketing to the LGBT community
Benefits • LGBT-related content
• LGBT media outlets
Internal • sponsoring LGBT organizations, professional
Practices associations and events
• recruiting / marketing opportunities to targeted
External audience
Practices • legislative support
• marketing/ • Employment Non-Discrimination Act
philanthropy • Domestic Partner Tax Equity Act
• recruiting
• Uniting American Families Act
• legislative
• support marriage equality (e.g., No On Prop 8
business coalition)
35. Grossing Up
• Google • Kimpton Hotels
• Facebook • JetBlue
• Apple • Morrison & Foerster
• Cisco • McDermott, Will & Emery
• Barclays • Bingham McCutcheon
• Credit Suisse • Skadden, Arps, Slate,
• Discovery Channel Meagher & Flom
• Bain & Co. • Gates Foundation
• Boston Consulting Group • UUA
• McKinsey • Teach for America
• City of Cambridge
36. Resources
• Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Workplace
Project
www.hrc.org/workplace
• Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
www.outandequal.org
• Center for Work Life Policy
www.worklifepolicy.org
• Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious
Understanding
www.tanenbaum.org/religion-at-work
37. SHRM 2011 Tuesday Presentations
• 10:45 – 12: Employee Benefits for Domestic
Partners and Same-Sex Married Couples: Best
Practices for Employers – Todd Solomon
LVCC Room N220-222
• 4 – 5:15: Transgender 101: What You Need to
Know About Gender Identity in the Workplace
– Allyson Robinson
LVCC Room N228-230
