Domestic partners
denied benefits
Freeholders' ruling
anti-gay, critics say
BY MARGARET F.
BONAFIDE, app.com from the Web, November 17, 2005
TOMS RIVER — An Ocean County
employee whose cancer has progressed to the most serious stage said she has a
new reason to live: to fight the freeholders' anti-gay position.
The freeholders announced through the county administrator that they would not
grant pension or health benefits to unmarried county employees under the
Domestic Partnership Act.
The state law covers only state employees and allows them health and pension
benefits. Municipalities, county governments and other publicly funded
entities have the option to adopt the benefits for health coverage or pensions
or both.
In June, the freeholders received a letter from Kevin Schaal, president of
Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 171, asking the board to allow such
benefits for county employees. Schaal had written on behalf of Lt. Laurel
Hester, 49, of Point Pleasant, who is on sick leave from her job as an
investigator with the county Prosecutor's Office.
Hester's lung cancer, deemed inoperable, metastasized into her chest area and is
surrounding her major arteries. When freeholders had not responded to her
or to the letter from the PBA, Hester attended the October freeholders meeting
and asked them personally to pass the resolution for her partner's benefit,
which she said would impose no cost on the county. Hester had asked for a
response by the November meeting.
Prior to the freeholders' meeting Wednesday, County Administrator Alan W. Avery
said the board had discussed the matter "in executive session, and there is no
support at this time to extend benefits under the Domestic Partnership Act."
Avery said the freeholders had asked him to release the single-sentence
statement on their behalf.
"This is a personnel matter," Avery said, explaining that he would not expound
on the reasons because the matter was discussed in executive session.
The freeholders didn't contact either Hester or Schaal to notify them of the
decision.
Registered as partners
Hester wants to leave her pension benefit, which if she were married would go to
her husband, to her legally registered domestic partner. Hester and Stacie
Andree, 30, have joint assets, including a home and bank accounts, and
registered as domestic partners Oct. 28, 2004.
"We are talking about a minuscule number of people" compared with the total
number of county employees, Hester said.
Schaal said he will demand a letter explaining the decision from the freeholders
and will then consider his next step on behalf of the union.
Phyllis Long, 67, of Manchester, a retired nurse midwife and president of the
Jersey Shore PFFLAG — Parents Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays, a
national organization with about 500 local chapters including a Toms River
chapter — said the decision is not fair.
"That is purely what it is. Not just or fair," she said.
All you need for a marriage is a blood test; a domestic partnership is more
involved, Long said.
For domestic partnership, "You have to prove you own property, live together,
and have joint assets," she said. "Those are not requirements if you are a
heterosexual married couple."
Freeholders' reasoning
Following Wednesday's meeting, Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari said that if
the state wanted county employees' domestic partners to get health and pension
benefits, then the Legislature should adopt that provision, then pay for it,
too.
"No, we just said no," Vicari said after the freeholders meeting. "The
state should do the cost factor — state mandate, state pay. I wasn't in on
the discussions about this."
Freeholder John P. Kelly, chairman of the Law and Public Safety Department, said
the denial of Hester's request was both financial and moral.
Passing the resolution would violate the "sanctity of marriage," Kelly said.
"We are not talking about being able to leave your pension to just anyone,"
Hester said. "We are talking about leaving your pension to someone in a
relationship as close to a marriage. If we had the opportunity, we would
get married."
Margaret F. Bonafide: (732) 557-5740 or
bonafide@app.com
|
