Local governments adjust benefits rules

Some alter old policies to accommodate same-sex pairs

A week after the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down state bans on same-sex marriage, governments in the Greater Memphis area are still digesting what it means for benefits.

The court’s June 26 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges means municipalities, their agencies and other employers must begin treating spouses of gay employees like they would other employees’ spouses, providing health insurance and pension benefits.

For more than a year, Shelby County has offered benefits to all spouses of employees who were legally married according to other states’ laws, said Human Resources Administrator Mike Lewis. He doesn’t expect to have to make any policy changes.

“We believe we’re already in compliance,” he said.

But other municipalities, including the city of Memphis, are still researching the specific changes they’ll have to make to their policies, and deciding whether they’ll immediately accept marriages performed before the ruling or wait for open enrollment.

Those are discussions that should have already happened, said Ginger Leonard, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Equality Project in Memphis. But, she said, delays are expected after a landmark decision, and as a whole, municipalities are cooperating.

“They’re kind of having to feel their way through it like everyone else is,” she said.

For municipalities, the ruling will mean tweaks in policies and a small increase in the number of spouses seeking coverage, she said. Because of a lack of protections against workplace discrimination, many employees will opt to stay silent about their marriages.

But for employees and their spouses, the changes are a “huge relief,” said Leonard, who was married in a same-sex ceremony in Washington in 2010. Thanks to the ruling, Leonard said, her spouse, who has a serious medical condition, will have health care through Memphis, Light, Gas & Water Division.

“To know we can get her the medication she needs is a weight off of my chest,” Leonard said.

The city of Memphis is accepting as a “life event” any same-sex marriages performed since the ruling, meaning those spouses can be added to employees’ health insurance plans before the next open enrollment begins in October.

“The law has changed, and we’re going to comply with the law,” said city Human Resources Director Quintin Robinson.

Like Leonard, Robinson said he doesn’t expect a large number of spouses to be added to plans as a result of the court’s ruling.

He said his office hasn’t researched= the effect on the pension policy, which allows spouses of retired employees to collect a reduced pension after the employee dies.

Janna Rogers, director of the DeSoto County Human Resources Department, said her office hasn’t discussed the ruling yet, but will obey any federal mandates.

“We haven’t gone dot by dot to see exactly,” she said when asked about policy changes that would have to be made.

Millington and Arlington have their health insurance through Shelby County, and so are already in compliance with the ruling.

Collierville spokesman Mark Heuberger said the town’s policy takes its definition of marriage from the state, so no policy changes are expected.

Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo also said he doesn’t anticipate any changes. “The Supreme Court expanded the definition of marriage,” which by default expanded the city’s policy, he said.

Lakeland City Manager Jim Atkinson didn’t immediately return a call.

The city of Memphis has already taken steps to protect its employees from discrimination. The city has two liaisons to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, one in Mayor A C Wharton’s office and the other in the police department.

Also, the City Council approved a nondiscrimination ordinance in October 2012 that protects against unfair workplace treatment based on sexual orientation.

Shelby County approved an ordinance in 2010 that prohibited any discrimination against employees for any reason other than merit.