Regents extend benefits to domestic partners

By Robert Salonga
DAILY BRUIN STAFF
[email protected]

The UC Board of Regents extended full retirement benefits to
same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners Thursday in the first
policy move dealing with sexual orientation and marital status
since 1997.

It was considered a victory for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender faculty and staff in the UC, who have been fighting for
several years toward “equal benefits for equal
work.”

“It’s a simple matter of equality. To have that
recognized is wonderful,” said Shane Snowdon, coordinator for
LGBT resources at UC San Francisco.

The board passed the same-sex domestic partner benefits by a
unanimous vote.

“(The policies) are creating equality among our employees
and it’s the right thing to do,” said Regent Judith
Hopkinson.

The move will also improve faculty recruitment and retention,
said Chand Viswanathan, chair of the Academic Council.

Other university staff agreed the policy change is a bold step
toward attracting diverse faculty.

“It allows the UC to recruit faculty and staff who might
have been reluctant to come here because their families
wouldn’t be cared for,” said Ronni Sanlo, director of
the LGBT Resource Center at UCLA.

The financial costs of the regents’ decision are minimal,
raising liability by less than 1 percent and actual costs by little
over one-10th of a percent.

Before the approval, spouses or dependents of UC Retirement Plan
members were eligible for income benefits and free lifetime health
insurance if a member died before or while eligible to retire.

Same-sex domestic partners are now eligible for these
pre-retirement income benefits. And if a member wishes to name a
same-sex domestic partner as a pension beneficiary, no reduction is
taken to account for gift and estate taxes that are generally more
lenient toward married couples.

To round out its retirement policy, the UC proposed to amend
benefits to opposite-sex domestic partners and unmarried employees
with no eligible survivors.

These particular policy changes were met with opposition. Regent
Peter Preuss would not recommend extending these benefits to
opposite-sex domestic partners, citing they have the option to
legally marry.

Extending retirement benefits to this group, warned Regent
George Marcus, could be an “incremental step we make in
ignoring the special bond” of marriage.

“We should encourage people with the legal right (of
marriage) to marry,” Marcus said.

The regents passed the opposite-sex domestic partner benefits by
a vote of 10-7, with Regent Sherry Lansing abstaining.

They did reach consensus, however, on the issue of extending
these benefits to unmarried employees, which upon death would
bestow their pension to anyone they choose. Hopkinson said the UCRP
is a pension plan and should not be treated like an insurance
policy.

The unmarried employee item did pass.

With reports from Christina Jenkins, Daily Bruin
Contributor.