 |
San Francisco Law Accelerates Trend Across the Nation Nine Years Ago Fewer than 24 Employers Gave Coverage |
|
Compiled By GayToday
Washington, D.C.--One of the most stunning gains for gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered workers in the 1990s has been the rapid spread of domestic
partner benefits, according to a report released Tuesday by the Human Rights
Campaign.
At the beginning of the decade, fewer than two dozen employers offered these benefits. Currently, more than 2,800 private companies, colleges and universities and state and local governments offer domestic partner health coverage. The report, The State of the Workplace for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Workers, found that much of the rapid spread of this benefit in the last two years can be attributed to San Francisco's Equal Benefits Ordinance. That law, which went into effect in 1997, is directly responsible for 2,168 of the 2,855 employers offering these benefits that have been tracked by HRC. "A steadily increasing number of American workplaces had been adding domestic partner insurance coverage to their benefits packages through the second half of the decade," according to Kim I. Mills, HRC's education director and principal author of the report. "Even without the San Francisco law, we were seeing an average of two employers a week instituting domestic partner coverage, up from one a week in the first half of the 1990s. The San Francisco law has led to a rapid acceleration of this trend, and a domino effect across market sectors and industries." The San Francisco law mandates that any company doing business with the city or county of San Francisco must offer the same benefits to the domestic partners of its employees that it offers to employees' legal spouses. For example, the report found that the San Francisco law was directly responsible for the spread of DP benefits in the oil industry. First, Chevron – which is based in San Francisco – instituted the benefits. It was quickly followed by Shell, BP Amoco and Mobil, according to the report. Likewise, the recent announcement of DP benefits by United Airlines was a direct result of the San Francisco law, and within a week, American Airlines and U.S. Airways had revealed they would be instituting domestic partner coverage as well.
To date in 1999, at least eight additional governments instituted DP benefits for their employees: Gresham, Ore.; Petaluma, Calif.; Pittsburgh; Tempe, Ariz.; Broward County, Fla.; Cook County, Ill.; Dane County, Wisc.; state of California (legislative employees only). However, the report noted, there have been some significant losses in many of the same arenas where GLBT workers have won gains. "Most notably, legislative bodies continue to consider almost as many anti-gay measures as legislation aimed at creating parity for GLBT workers. Likewise, many courts continue to find that discrimination based on sexual orientation is perfectly legal in many jurisdictions," the report states. In 1999, for example, religious political extremists succeeded in rolling back a comprehensive Maine law that had barred sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. And at least two well-known anti-gay organizations have mounted court challenges to municipal domestic partner benefits plans, with mixed results. Among the report's other findings: A total of 1,558 private corporations, colleges and universities, state and local governments and federal government agencies and departments that include the term "sexual orientation" in their non-discrimination policies. Of those, 261 were in the Fortune 500, up slightly from 251 in 1996 when HRC completed the first survey of Fortune 500 companies and non-discrimination policies At least 279 colleges and universities have implemented non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. These colleges include 44 of the top 50 national universities and 26 of the top 40 national liberal arts colleges according to the 1999 U.S. News and World Report college rankings. Contrary to the claims of the religious right, domestic partner benefits are not some "special right" given to gays and lesbians. Based on HRC's data, more than two-thirds of employers that have implemented this coverage are also providing it to unmarried opposite-sex couples. A full list of employers with non-discrimination policies and domestic partner benefits is available on the web at www.hrc.org/worknet. |
