Q: Earlier this year, the Supreme Court made a historic decision to strike down the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, which meant that same-sex marriage would be recognized. Should employers make any changes to their policies or employee handbooks as a result?
A: The court’s decision recognizing same-sex marriage meant that several federal laws that affect the workplace –like the Family and Medical Leave Act, pension/death benefits, employee benefits, and income taxes –were also affected. Since the decision, different federal agencies (Dept of Labor, IRS) have issued rules on how to apply the law.
For instance, the DOL quickly changed their FMLA fact sheet so that the word “spouse” was redefined as a husband or wife as “recognized under state law for purposes of marriage in the state where the employee resides”. Note that this definition depends on where the employee resides, not where the employee got married. So if your business is located in one of the 14 states where same-sex couples can marry, you would have to change the way you administer FMLA so it includes same-sex spouses, and yes, probably change wording in your handbook. However, if your business in NOT located in one of these states, you’re not affected, even if your employees were married in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage.
The IRS, on the other hand, doesn’t care much where the employee resides. They care whether the employee is legally married. Under their ruling “same-sex couples who were legally married will be treated as married for federal tax purposes, including the pretax treatment of a spouse’s health insurance coverage”. In other words, they’re considered married in all 50 states, regardless of whether the couple now live in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage or not.
Since most handbooks don’t get into this much tax detail, there probably won’t be any need to make changes. However, regardless of geography, whoever handles your benefits and payroll deductions should be familiar with the new tax implications.
We’ll get used to it slowly. The number of states legalizing same-sex marriage will likely continue to increase until it’s the law of the land. Then we’ll wonder what all the fuzz was about.
© Copyright Eva Del Rio
