VEChannel Event Profile

Update on Recent State and Local Actions on SameGender Marriages and their Impact on Employee Benefit Plans

Last spring, Massachusetts legalized samegender marriage and four other states began issuing marriage licenses to samegender couples. In response to the flurry of ensuing samegender marriages, 11 states recently passed state constitutional amendments banning samegender marriages and 39 states have "defense of marriage" laws providing that the state does not have to recognize samegender marriages performed in other states. Naturally, these conflicting signals can be troubling for employers. Are you facing such situations and having to evaluate your benefit plan documents, HR policies, and administrative procedures in light of state and local laws and court cases in order to know how to respond? Learn what employers like you can and should do now in light of the groundbreaking changes in the area of samegender marriage when you join Joe Adams and Todd Solomon, partners in the Employee Benefits Department of the law firm McDermott Will & Emery, for this 90minute interactive audio conference. During this audio conference, Mr. Adams and Mr. Solomon will address and answer the following questions and more: What legal effect do the recent samegender marriages in Massachusetts, Canada, Oregon, San Francisco, New Mexico and New York have? What do the state constitutional amendments passed last election mean for samegender marriages? Will the United States Constitution be amended? Does the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") permit sponsors of employee benefit plans regulated by federal law to define marriage as only the union of one man and one woman? Has any court outside of Massachusetts recognized a samegender marriage performed in Massachusetts? How should an employer respond to an employee presenting a marriage certificate from one of these jurisdictions and requesting spousal coverage? How will insurance carriers and HMOs treat samegender spouses? What will the impact be on retirement plans? What are the federal and state tax consequences of samegender spousal coverage? What payroll and withholding issues will be involved? If an employer already has domestic partner coverage, can/should it be revised or eliminated in light of the recent changes? What if an employers HR policy prohibits sexual orientation discrimination? Is the employer vulnerable to a lawsuit if it does not provide coverage for employees domestic partners and samegender spouses? Have any other jurisdictions or states required companies to offer domestic partner benefits as a condition of securing government contracts? Are California employers required to offer health coverage to domestic partners? Plus, 30 minutes after the presentation will be set aside for an interactive Q&A session. Listen in and get the chance to ask the speakers your specific questions! Who should register? Employee Benefits Professionals HR Managers Plan Administrators Thirdparty Administrators

View This Event