UT faculty looking for new ways to get same-sex benefits (KnoxNews)

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/05/ut-faculty-looking-for-new-ways-to-get-same-sex/

The cost of inequity

“In the brief, the signers said the federal law “puts us, as employers, to unnecessary cost and administrative complexity.” But the law also, the brief stated, “forces us to treat one class of our lawfully married employees differently than another, when our success depends upon the welfare and morale of all employees.”

The brief drew 278 signers, including more than 200 companies — among them giants like Citigroup, Apple, Mars and Alcoa — as well as city governments, law firms and other groups.

Faculty and student groups push for instituting domestic partner benefits at UT (texas)

http://dailytexanonline.com/news/2013/02/10/faculty-and-student-groups-push-for-instituting-domestic-partner-benefits-at-ut

2007 in Ohio

SAME-SEX BENEFITS RULING AFFIRMED

Josh Rinaldi, Hamilton JournalNews

336 words

30 August 2007

The Cincinnati Post

CINP

English

Copyright 2007 Scripps Howard Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MIDDLETOWN — An Ohio appellate court has affirmed Miami University granting its employees domestic-partner benefits.

State Rep. Thomas Brinkman, R-Cincinnati, sued the university in 2004, claiming the benefits violated the 2004 Ohio constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Brinkman appealed the Butler County Common Pleas Court ruling in favor of Miami, claiming the court erred in saying he lacked standing to challenge the university‘s policy. Brinkman asserted he had a right to challenge the policy as a taxpayer and a parent of two children at the university.

The Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown affirmed the ruling Monday. In its decision, Judge James A. Brogan rejected Brinkman’s claims, saying he chose to send his children to Miami, and while the university receives state assistance, it reimburses costs for the benefits with private donations, not taxpayer dollars.

UT Austin

Academic Affairs Committee
of the UT System Faculty Advisory Council

At the January 28 Faculty Council meeting, Chair Martha Hilley reported that on Friday, January 25, 2013, the following resolution on domestic partner benefits was endorsed by the Academic Affairs Committee of the UT System Faculty Advisory Council.

Resolution on Domestic Partner Benefits

“Whereas, nonmarital domestic partnerships are becoming increasingly common in modern society; and

Whereas an increasing number of corporations, governmental entities and universities are including the partner of an employee in their benefit plans with equivalent status to an employee’s spouse; and

Whereas providing equivalent status is an issue of fairness and equity; and

Whereas providing equivalent status will have a positive effect on faculty and staff morale; and

Whereas providing equivalent status will have a positive effect on faculty and staff recruitment and retention;

Therefore be it resolved that The University of Texas System Faculty Advisory Council encourages the Board of Regents to urge legislators to pursue changes in state laws and subsequently to change Regents’ Rules to allow The University of Texas System to treat a domestic partner equivalently to an employee’s spouse in all University benefit plans.”

 

Posted on the Faculty Council website on January 30, 2013.

Cartoon for Benefit Equality in the Daily Beacon

http://utdailybeacon.com/cartoons/southern-glamour/2013/jan/31/southern-glamour-736/

Opinion: UT continues discriminatory policies

http://utdailybeacon.com/opinion/columns/guest/2013/jan/24/ut-continues-discriminatory-policies/

by Preston Peeden, Associate Editor

Thu Jan 24, 2013

Big Orange, Big Ideas.

Recently, Jimmy Cheek made it resoundingly clear that, for him and Larry Arrington, the chancellor of UT’s Institute of Agriculture, overt discrimination toward same-sex teachers can be considered a big idea by this school.

Cheek, Arrington issue statement regarding domestic partner benefits

http://utdailybeacon.com/news/2013/jan/24/cheek-arrington-issue-statement-regarding-domestic/

Justin Joo, Copy Editor

Published: Thu Jan 24, 2013

Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon

<span>Jimmy Cheek listens during an interview last summer. Cheek has recently released a response saying that UT will still not be able to give benefits to homosexual domestic partnerships.</span>

Chancellors Jimmy Cheek and Larry Arrington have issued a new, official response regarding the provision of benefits to the homosexual and heterosexual domestic partners of UT, and the answer is still no.

University of Nebraska offers DP Benefits as “plus one”

71 NU employees take advantage of domestic partner benefits

4 hours ago  •  By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

Seventy-one employees have signed up for the University of Nebraska’s benefits program that extends coverage to their same-sex or unmarried opposite-sex partners.

“This is substantially less than we were thinking this was going to cost, so it’s been very good,” David Lechner, NU senior vice president for business and finance, told the Board of Regents Friday.

The regents approved the controversial health care program known as “employee plus one” in June. Employees signed up for the program at the end of the year and benefits went into effect Jan. 1.

The program extends insurance benefits to same-sex or opposite-sex partners who share the employee’s household and with whom the employee is financially interdependent. Family coverage extends to the partner’s dependent children.

Benefits include health, dental and vision insurance, sick and bereavement leave and eligibility for the Dependent Scholarship Program.

NU officials had anticipated 100 to 200 people would sign up for the program at a cost of between $750,000 and $1.5 million. The actual number of employees getting the benefits this year will cost about $500,000, NU spokeswoman Melissa Lee said.

The total cost of the university’s health insurance plan is more than $120 million. In June, NU officials estimated the extended benefits would require  a $1- to $3-per-month increase in insurance premiums.

Lechner said although officials estimated 100 to 200 people would sign up, they thought it might be less based on the experiences of other universities.

For the first year, 65 people signed up for all benefits and six people signed up for other benefits — such as eligibility for the Dependent Scholarship Program — but not health insurance.

Milliken said in June that adopting the “plus one” program would bring the university in line with the practices of comparable higher education institutions. Nationally, more than 300 higher education institutions offer partner benefits, including public universities and systems in at least 30 states and most of the highly ranked research institutions, according to NU officials.

Andddddd…Another

2004-05 Report of UT Senate Faculty Staff Benefits Committee
Committee goals and actions to date Submitted by Nancy Howell 4/18/05

Partner benefits-the University has included sexual orientation as part of the protected status in the new faculty handbook. The UT Senate would like this committee to continue reviewing the process of adding domestic partnership benefits. Currently 360 colleges and universities nationwide offer some form of domestic partnership benefits (source: AAUP).
The committee reviewed an approach used by the University of Wisconsin listing benefits and which were or were not available to domestic partners. The committee will pursue developing a similar chart next year. It was also suggested that those benefits under the control of UT may be offered to partners with a change of UT policy, as opposed to state law or policy.