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The New York Times
United Parcel Service
Agrees to Benefits
in Civil Unions
By KAREEM FAHIM.
Nytimes.com on the Web, July 31, 2007
United Parcel Service said yesterday
that it would offer health benefits to its employees’ partners in civil unions
in New Jersey, 10 days after Gov. Jon S. Corzine wrote a letter urging it to
comply with the state’s five-month-old civil union law.
The policy decision was a reversal for the company, which had said it could not
offer such benefits because the couples were not legally married, and will
affect an unspecified number of United Parcel’s 8,700 employees who belong to
the Teamsters union.
Two couples, through a lawyer, formally appealed to the company in recent months
to give them benefits. One of the employees, Tom Walton, received a letter
yesterday from the claims review committee, telling him that his and his
partner’s request had been approved.
“We were very, very excited,” said Mr. Walton, a driver who has worked at U.P.S.
for 14 years. His partner, Mearmon Davis, a hospital security supervisor,
had wanted to share Mr. Walton’s health benefits, which include dental and
vision coverage.
Mr. Walton added: “U.P.S. is a good company, a very diverse company.
When we thought we weren’t going to get benefits, we were very disappointed.”
Steven Goldstein, the chairman of Garden State Equality, a gay-rights
organization, said that more than 200 same-sex couples had complained that their
employers had not recognized the civil union law, enacted after the New Jersey
Supreme Court ruled last fall that all couples must be treated equally.
The court left it to the Legislature whether to achieve that through same-sex
marriage or civil unions. In February, lawmakers made New Jersey the
nation’s third state, behind Vermont and Connecticut, to recognize civil unions.
Massachusetts is the only state where gay marriage is legal.
David S. Buckel, who represented Mr. Walton and another U.P.S. driver, Nickie
Brazier, said that he had been working with more than a hundred couples “who are
struggling to get respect for their civil union laws.”
Many of the companies have granted benefits after he negotiated with them, but
other cases are still pending. “It’s a long hard slog through company
after company,” he said. “The Legislature could stop it with the stroke of
a pen.”
Norman Black, a spokesman for the shipping company, said the change in his
company’s policy came about after conversations with state officials.
“In the course of those discussions, at least in the case of New Jersey, it
became clear that the state is treating civil union partners as if they are
married partners,” he said.
Teamsters who work for United Parcel Service in Massachusetts are already
eligible for health benefits, but the company is currently reviewing the law in
Vermont and Connecticut, Mr. Black said.
In all, the company employs about 238,000 Teamsters nationwide, and whether the
same-sex couples among them will be extended the same health benefits as their
colleagues in New Jersey depends on a round of collective bargaining currently
under way, Mr. Black said.
The company already offers these benefits to management and administrative
employees in New Jersey.
Lilo Stainton, a spokeswoman for Governor Corzine, said that an official from
United Parcel Service delivered the news yesterday to the governor’s office in
person.
“The governor is extremely pleased with the news, not just for what it means for
these couples, but also for the larger implication and the greater meaning of
New Jersey’s civil union law,” she said. The company, she said, “got the
big picture.”
She added that Mr. Corzine “hopes that other companies will follow this
excellent example.”
Mr. Walton said he and his partner received the news of the health benefits on
the same day that they applied for a home equity loan. “They asked if we
were married,” he said. “We said, well we’re civil union partners.
But there was no box to check. There was single, married, and divorced.”
“The woman looked at us like she had never heard of such a thing,” he added.
“The fact is, we have to explain ourselves.”
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