Domestic Partner Benefits
Position: Under current law, domestic
partners of federal employees are not eligible
to receive insurance, family leave, survivor
annuities, and other benefits for which spouses
are eligible. Since benefits comprise a great
deal of federal employee compensation, this
disparity effectively denies federal employees
with domestic partners equal pay for equal
work. The Domestic Partnership Benefits and
Obligations Act (H.R. 3485/S. 1910) would make
same sex domestic partners eligible for these
benefits.
Similar domestic partner benefits are
already being offered by numerous state and
local governments and in many workplaces in the
private sector. NFFE-IAM strongly supports
this legislation.
Background: The
Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations
Act of 2011 would give the domestic partners of
federal employees the same benefits – and
require of them the same obligations – as the
spouses of federal employees. Under
the legislation, same-sex domestic partners of
federal employees living together in a
committed relationship would be eligible for
health benefits, long-term care, Family and
Medical Leave, and federal retirement benefits,
among others. The domestic partners of federal
employees would also be subject to the same
responsibilities that apply to the spouses of
federal employees, such as anti-nepotism rules
and financial disclosure requirements.
Not only
would this legislation further advance an
agenda of fairness and equality within federal
workplaces, but, with a large group of federal
employees expected to retire over the next few
years, this bill would help recruit and retain
the most qualified and talented federal
workforce.
According to UCLA’s Williams Institute,
over 30,000 federal workers live in committed
relationships with same-sex domestic partners
who are not federal employees. Since benefits
comprise a great deal of federal employee
compensation, this disparity effectively denies
federal employees with domestic partners equal
pay for equal work.
Offering domestic
partner benefits has become a very common
practice in all sectors of employment. More
than half of all Fortune 500 companies and over
10,000 other private sector companies provide
benefits to domestic partners. In addition, the
governments of 13 states, 145 local
jurisdictions, and over 300 colleges and
universities provide similar domestic partner
benefits.
Following the passage of this
legislation, federal employees would have the
right to file an affidavit of eligibility with
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to
extend these benefits and obligations to their
partners.
A broad group of bipartisan lawmakers in
both houses of Congress have cosponsored this
legislation.