Gay workers feeling
more welcome
By Maggie Jackson,
boston.com from the Web, October 8, 2006
The silence has broken, and now their
needs are being heard, too. Gay and lesbian employees are gaining better
access to work-life benefits, along with more visible acceptance at work.
David Frishkorn's partner got to join him on a company-provided house-hunting
trip in 1998 when Frishkorn, Xerox Corp.'s director of ethics, transferred to
Stamford, Conn. In addition to health coverage, Frishkorn can get family
leave to care for his partner, artist Jack Hellaby , along with any other
benefits available to company spouses.
"It is a recognition issue," says Frishkorn, who cofounded the company's gay and
lesbian employee resource group in 1991. "It's where the company, through
benefits, says, 'We value your family as much as the traditional family.' "
Granted, the most rapid change is within the ranks of the biggest companies.
This year, 51 percent of the Fortune 500 offer domestic partner benefits, up
from less than 20 percent in 1999, according to the advocacy group Human Rights
Campaign. Among Fortune 1000 employers who offer such benefits, 75 percent
offer health coverage for a partner's dependents, 55 percent offer adoption
assistance, and 61 percent allow workers family and medical leave to care for a
partner.
"Companies are no longer limiting benefits for gay employees to simply health
insurance," says Daryl Herrschaft , a director at the Washington-based group.
"They're providing family and medical leave, bereavement leave, and a host of
other benefits to help gay employees balance work and life -- and ultimately
make them better employees."
A few companies, such as IBM and Raytheon, phased out domestic partner benefits
in Massachusetts after same-sex marriages became legal. Raytheon doesn't
cover unmarried heterosexual partners, so it's unfair to cover same-sex partners
in a state where they can be married, says Louise Young, a Raytheon senior
software engineer who heads the company's gay and lesbian employee group.
If married, however, same-sex couples get benefits available to spouses.
It should be noted that both IBM and Raytheon score a perfect 100 on Human
Rights Campaign's barometer of how companies treat gay and lesbian employees.
The state of Massachusetts, as well, is phasing out the few domestic partner
benefits negotiated piecemeal by unions. "With marriage as an option, it
doesn't seem necessary," says John O'Leary , chief human resources officer for
the state.
Some couples, however, are reluctant to marry in Massachusetts due to various
"legal complications," argues Michele Granda , a staff attorney for Boston-based
Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. They may be trying to adopt abroad,
where same-sex marriage is often frowned on, or simplifying their tax status.
Same-sex couples must file separate federal tax returns.
Thirteen states -- including Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, and Connecticut --
offer health coverage to public employees' same-sex partners, but New Hampshire
does not -- a situation that Anne Breen is trying to help change. Breen is
suing her employer, the New Hampshire State Technical College System, to gain
benefits for her partner, Kathleen Doyle , and their son Matthew, 10.
"I can donate my sick leave to co-workers but I can't take leave should my
partner die or my son become ill," says Breen, head of security at New Hampshire
Technical Institute in Concord. New Hampshire Merrimack Superior Court
ruled in favor of Breen and coplaintiff Patricia Bedford in May, but the state
is appealing. State lawyers argue that gay unmarried couples aren't
unfairly targeted because unmarried heterosexual couples don't get family
benefits, either.
"It just doesn't seem fair," says Breen, adding that her own workplace is
supportive and comfortable with her sexual orientation.
Recognizing the end of the one-size, one-shape family is a cultural challenge.
That's one reason why accounting firm executive Mike Syers spearheaded a meeting
of 10 Fortune 500 companies this summer to brainstorm ways to make gay and
lesbian employees feel fully included at work. The resulting report,
"Making It Real," suggests open talk, support from top leaders, and other steps
that go beyond policy change.
"It's about being a person, and being able to say what you did over the weekend,
or putting a picture of your partner on your desk," says Syers, a New York-based
partner at Ernst & Young. "When you can't bring your whole life to your
work, you can't feel part of the team."
Again, the picture is brightening -- slowly. More than 60 percent of gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults say they are comfortable introducing
their partner to their boss, up from 41 percent in 2002, according to a survey
by Out & Equal, an advocacy group. Nearly 90 percent of heterosexual
adults, meanwhile, agree that workers should be judged on work performance, not
sexual orientation. But just half of heterosexuals feel that gay and
lesbian people are treated fairly and equally at their workplace.
Balancing Acts appears every other week. Maggie Jackson
can be reached at maggie.jackson@att.net.
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