Domestic partner benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

internal partner benefits - Essay ExampleFurther requirements were then added for the partners to continue sharing monetary obligations and that they atomic number 18over eighteen (Badgett 2006).. A domestic partnership denotes a much that may be or may not be recognised by law as compared tomarriage. According toWikipedia, public and private employers in America provide health insurance and other benefits to spouses and similar-sex partners of their employees. The employee receiving benefits for his or her spouse may sometimes be forced to pay tax for the benefits. The qualifications for benefits for domestic partners vary from one employer to the next. Different employers have different benchmarks for those that are suitable for these benefits and those that are not. Domestic partner benefits can be categorized into two same sex partners and opposite sex partners. It is up to employers to determine whichpartnershipto include. Some employers only tellsame-sex or different-sex co uples, while others accept both categories. Employers ought to compensate their employees through more than salaries and wages. They should provide benefits such as health insurance. A growing number of employers are now offering domestic partner benefits to gay, lesbians, bisexual and transgender employees and thepartners children. These benefits include health benefits (dental,sightand medical) retirement benefits (pension plans) bereavement leave travel assistant adoption assistance education andtuitionassistance and disability and life insurance. Employersare knownto create their own definitions of domestic partners. This is toenablethem to know who is entitled for benefits and who is not.Same sexunions were usually left out of this consideration. Employers have since begun offering benefits tosame sexpartners. Employers have traditionally offered benefits, such as health insurance, to the spouses and wakeless dependants of their employees. In 1982, the firstemployerto break ranks andofferdomestic partner benefits to itslesbianandgayemployees was a New York City weeklypublicationcalled the Village Voice. Today, the compassionate Rights Campaign (a nonprofit organization devoted to working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights) claims that employees whoofferthese benefits stand at more than 2,500. In an effort to promote equality in the workplace, more and more employers are choosing toofferbenefits to domestic partners. However, these efforts tobringmoreequalityto the workplace are not withoutconsequence. Before adopting policies thatafforddomestic partners the same benefits thatare affordedspouses, employers must carefully consider the benefits and risks to such anapproach (Badgett 2006).. Cost of domestic partner benefits According to Michael E. Hamrick (2009), lack of information has made it difficult to aimthe overallcostof domestic partner benefits. Some employers believe that the cost for providing benefits for domestic partner s is much higher than providing benefits for married couples. Anexcellentexample comes from a menial groupplanin California. It paid 17.1% more in the same year for