USA TODAY International Edition
Walmart to offer same- sex partner benefits
Gay rights leader says it sends cultural signal.
In what the largest U. S. gay rights group calls a “historic move,” Walmart told employees Monday that it would extend its health and other benefits to “domestic partners” of employees, including partners of the same sex.
The largest U. S. employer made the announcement quietly in a postcard it sent to employees.
Research by the Human Rights Campaign shows 62% of Fortune 500 companies already offer domestic partner benefits. But the Supreme Court’s June decision overturning part of a federal law that denied federal benefits to legally married samesex partners has heightened attention on same- sex benefits.
The move comes as other employ- ers are changing coverage to be more restrictive in the face of increased costs under the federal health care law known as Obamacare. UPS and the University of Virginia last week announced plans to no longer offer coverage for employees’ working spouses if they are eligible for coverage by their own employers.
Chad Griffin, HRC’s president, heralded Walmart’s decision. “I am moved by my former employer’s historic action that further proves equality is good business,” Griffin, who worked there as a teen, said in an e- mailed statement.
Walmart “has sent a cultural signal that equality for LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people is the simplest of mainstream values, and we look forward to continuing to work with them,” Griffin said.
Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the company had been working to better define what a domestic partner is and that the Supreme Court’s decision helped prompt its move. Partners of Walmart employees can be of the same or opposite sex and married or unmarried, as long as they’ve been “living together in an ongoing exclusive” relationship for at least 12 months and intend to stay that way, Hargrove said. Still, Hargrove said, “No proof is required today to enroll a spouse.”