Domestic Partnership Benefits Toolkit

The Pride Agenda has launched a new toolkit to help employees learn more about their employer’s requirements for domestic partnership benefits and how to advocate for fully equal access to insurance benefits for the families of all employees. The toolkit is now available as a resource in three parts:

• GUIDANCE DOCUMENT: Equalizing Access to Insurance Benefits
• Model Domestic Partner Benefits Eligibility Requirements
• TALKING POINTS: Equalizing Access to Insurance Benefits

The Need for Domestic Partnership Benefits in Post-Marriage New York 

By offering Domestic Partner (DP) benefits, employers demonstrate respect for, and provide security to, the families of all employees. The Empire State Pride Agenda considers it a best practice for employers to institute or maintain DP benefits regardless of whether same-sex couples work in a state recognizing their legal marriages. To do otherwise could require lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees to take steps that might not be in their best legal or personal interest in order to obtain or maintain insurance benefits coverage for their families.

New York State’s recent decision to legalize marriage for same-sex couples is a major victory for equality and justice. But it has prompted some companies to consider discontinuing their DP benefits for same-sex couples, rationalizing that because same-sex couples are now able to marry, DP benefits are no longer necessary for their New York-based employees. While this is an understandable instinct, the Pride Agenda is urging companies to carefully consider the consequences of terminating DP benefits for employees with a same-sex partner. We believe it is premature for companies to do away with domestic partner benefits, and we encourage employers to maintain these benefits for their employees. Read the white paper >

Make a Difference for LGBT Equality with Pride in My Workplace Speakers

We invite you to consider the resources that Pride in My Workplace has to offer as you plan your events, trainings and employee network activities for 2010. The Empire State Pride Agenda offers a number of unique and informative trainings, speakers and opportunities to collaborate on events that you might find useful:

• We can provide dynamic, informative speakers for lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender (LGBT) employee group events throughout the year including Pride Month in June and National Coming Out Day (October 11) as well as Transgender Awareness events, including Transgender Day of Remembrance held in November. Our speakers cover workplace-related topics, such as engaging straight allies, policies and practices to support transgender employees and employment-related marriage recognition. But we also are experts on LGBT community issues, the shifting political landscape in New York State and its impact on civil rights legislation, employers and the workplace.

• We can also work with you to host a Business Leaders for LGBT Equality panel and networking event, at which your company can highlight its own best practices.

• You can also recommend us as a technical assistance training resource to your Human Resource/Diversity staff and Diversity Committee on emerging best practices related to marriage recognition, gender identity & expression, engaging straight allies in creating affirming workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees or any of the Best Practices featured in our Guide.

You can get a clearer sense of our capacity and our business partners from this overview of our 2009 Pride in My Workplace panels, events and publications:

• We facilitated the 2009 Business Leaders for LGBT Equality Series that featured best practices on Engaging Straight Allies; Marriage Recognition for New York State Employers; and Gender Identity & Expression in the Workplace.
• We forged new partnerships with companies and allies such as Nixon Peabody LLP, The New York Times, Macy’s, Kramer Levin LLP, Mercer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce New York, and American Express.
• We continued partnerships with Macy’s, Polo Ralph Lauren, Mercer, Corcoran, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Barclay’s Capital, Corning Inc., Out & Equal Metro New York and Finger Lakes.
• We participated in Out to Work, the largest LGBT Career Fair in the Northeast with over 2,000 attendees.
• We released the second edition of Pride in My Workplace: Best Practices Guide for New York State Businesses to Support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Employees
• We released our brand-new Transgender Issues in the Workplace: Lessons From Across New York State, a report featuring success stories of six employers and employees from large and small workplaces across New York State.
• We held our 2009 Equality@Work Awards Luncheon honoring Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Jeffrey Siminoff of Morgan Stanley and The New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights, hosted by Time Warner Inc.

If you have any questions, please contact Joanna Solmonsohn at (212) 627-0305 or jsolmonsohn AT prideagenda DOT org.