Domestic Partner Benefits

Domestic Partner Benefits

In today’s economy, people are looking to take care of their family. Looking at the typical family today is different from looking at a typical family of 20 years ago. The size and make-up of a family has changes dramatically. Benefits for this new generation of family structure will need some serious consideration as the cultures continue to change. Domestic partnership benefits can be beneficial and cost-effective for both the employer and the employee. A growing list of private companies and public entities, have extended domestic partnership benefits to their employees. Most businesses would see no new spouses to cover and very little cost increases, the percentage of domestic partners to married couples is still lower. The value of offering these benefits far out way any costs that the companies would incur. Many domestic partnerships include people of the same sex and therefore do not have the option of legalized marriage. The cost for the benefits for these domestic partnerships would most likely be greater because they do not have a legal binding to prove there union. As the United States moves closer toward same sex marriages, the need for domestic partner benefits grows larger.

Domestic partnership benefits, which were a rare commodity 10 years ago, now hundreds of Companies offer these benefits. “American Express, Apple Computer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Hampshire, the City of Baltimore, the University of Maine System, Walt Disney, Levi Strauss, Coors Beer, and the State of Vermont are all part of a growing list of private companies. In addition, public entities have extended domestic partnership benefits to their employees. These companies, colleges, universities, cities and towns have all discovered that providing these benefits for their employees is a pro-family policy that recognizes equal pay for equal work, has low costs, and is the right thing to do” (Bonauto, Esq., 2008). Companies who have not yet implemented...