Coverage available to both opposite-sex and domestic partners:
Healthcare (medical, prescription, dental), Fee Remission, Non-Resident Tuition Waiver for graduate assistant’s spouse and/or same—sex domestic partner, voluntary vision insurance and voluntary/supplemental life insurance.
SOURCE: Marie Williams
What is a domestic partner?
• A person of the same sex as the employee with whom the employee has shared a residence with and had an exclusive relationship with for at least six months.
• A person who is not married or in a domestic partner relationship with anyone other than the employee.
• A person who is at least 18 years of age and mentally competent to consent to contract.
• A person who is not related to the employee by blood closer than would bar marriage in the state of Indiana by reason of blood relationship.
• A person with whom the employee shares joint responsibility for each other’s necessities, including without limitation food, clothing, housing and medical care.
A person with whom the employee can show a significant financial interrelationship by providing documentation such as joint ownership or lease of a home, joint bank accounts, designation of each other as beneficiary of life insurance, retirement benefits, will or any other binding contractual financial relationship.
SOURCE: bsu.edu
• Ball State provides benefit coverage to employee’s same-sex partners.
• Federal and state laws cause a difference in coverage compared to legal spouses.
• Domestic partner coverage does not continue after an employee retires.
Although Indiana does not recognize same-sex marriage or domestic partnerships, Ball State provides benefit coverage to employees’ domestic partners.
This coverage, however, does not exactly mirror what’s available to legal spouses, because of federal and state laws.
Under Ball State’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action policy, Ball State provides equal opportunity to all employees in its compensation and benefits program, without regard to traits like sexual orientation.
Ball State began offering health care benefits to domestic partners in July of 2002, according to the Affidavit of Same-Sex Domestic Partner Relationship for Health Care.
In July of 2009, tuition remission, which allows spouses and dependents to enroll in coursework for a reduced cost, was also expanded to include domestic partners.
The difference in coverage regards retirement.
According to the Domestic Partner Coverage FAQs, domestic partner coverage does not continue after an employee retires, while it does continue for both retiree and spouse.
Also, the IRS considers the university’s contribution toward domestic partner coverage as income, so it becomes a taxable benefit. Medical coverage for other enrolled family members is not taxable.
Marie Williams, associate vice president for human resources, said the current policies regarding coverage after retirement and taxation are in place to comply with IRS guidelines but may change because of the Defense of Marriage Act Supreme Court ruling this past summer.
“Because of the recent Supreme Court decision on the Defense of Marriage Act, Ball State, like other employers, will follow evolving state and federal guidance to ensure its plans comply with all applicable laws,” Williams said.
For example, under IRS recent guidance, Williams said, same-sex benefits will no longer be taxable.
Ball State’s current benefits structure influenced the decision to oppose House Joint Resolution 6.
If HJR-6 passes in the general assembly and then by a popular vote in November 2014, not only will it write into the state constitution the definition of marriage as only between a man and a woman, but it also will bar similar legal structures like domestic partnerships and civil unions.
In a statement to the Faculty Council on Oct. 31, Provost Terry King encouraged university governance to oppose HJR-6, citing Ball State’s benefits to same-sex couples.
“Note that the Ball State Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Policy specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and same-sex domestic partners of BSU employees are eligible for employee spouse benefits,” he said in his statement.
During the University Senate meeting on Nov. 14, where the recommendation against HJR-6 was passed, concerns were expressed about HJR-6’s potential consequences for Ball State’s existing domestic partner health care coverage.
King addressed those concerns and predicted it could have an adverse impact.
“It’s not exactly clear what would be the impact of this policy on our benefits packaging providing benefits to same sex partners,” King said during the University Senate meeting. “It’s not clear, but it is thought there will be some aggressive action.”
Williams also said bills can change greatly as they go through the legislative process and she can’t speculate as to how Ball State’s coverage could be affected.
“Changes due to new federal and state guidelines are not unusual,” Williams said. “I do know that we are committed to continuing our current benefits to the degree any future law would allow.”
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