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By Robert Salonga
DAILY BRUIN STAFF
[email protected]
Considered by many to be long overdue, faculty and staff in
same-sex domestic partnerships will receive equal pension benefits,
pending approval at this week’s UC Board of Regents meeting
at Covel Commons.
General sentiment from the regents indicate that the item will
pass through the board, since it is widely thought of as a worker
equality issue, not just one of sexual orientation.
“As employees of UC they’re entitled to the same
equality, dignity and respect as any other employee,” said
Regent Ward Connerly.
“That they’re involved in a same-sex relation is not
my business. They are valued employees, and deserve benefits like
everyone else,” he continued.
Along with equality issues, others treat the situation as one of
faculty retention.
“In order to remain competitive, the university must
provide benefits to faculty members in relationships not included
in the current (retirement plan),” said Professor Thomas
Wortham, chair of the English department at UCLA.
Wortham, who is in his fifth-year as chair, has been in a
same-sex domestic partnership for 25 years.
“Morale inevitably suffers, and it gets harder and harder
to attract good people,” said Shane Snowdon, coordinator of
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resources at UC San
Francisco.
The UC is lagging behind in terms of providing equal benefits to
its employees. The eight institutions the UC compares itself to in
terms of performance and faculty ““ including Harvard, Yale
and Stanford Universities, as well as the University of Michigan
““ already allocate benefits without regard to sexual
orientation.
“When I was at (Michigan) in 1994, the president said this
was our policy so it’ll apply across the board,” said
Ronni Sanlo, director of the LGBT Resource Office at UCLA.
In the United States, 184 colleges and universities currently
have equal benefits, as do 39 of the top 50 universities in the
nation, according to Snowdon.
Currently, spouses or eligible dependents ““ such as
children or parents ““ of UC Retirement Plan members stand to
receive income benefits and free lifetime health insurance if a
member dies before and while eligible to retire. Retirement
eligibility occurs when a UCRP member reaches age 50.
Same-sex domestic partners are not eligible for these
pre-retirement income benefits. And if a member wishes to name a
same-sex domestic partner as a pension beneficiary, a 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 is proposing to amend
benefits to opposite-sex domestic partners and unmarried employees
with no eligible survivors.
The state recognizes opposite-sex domestic partners only if one
partner is 62 years old and receiving Social Security benefits.
For unmarried UCRP with no eligible survivors, the UC hopes to
make its benefits flexible for those supporting, non-family
members.
Should the proposals pass, the UC would be responsible for up to
$304.2 million in additional retirement liability, depending on
whether it includes all opposite-sex domestic partners or just
those defined by the state.
The total increased liability would increase by just over 1
percent, and actual costs would amount to $14.5 million, a 0.2
percent increase.
“It’s not about economics; we want to do this
because it’s the right thing to do, and it was an oversight
not to do this years ago,” said Student Regent Tracy
Davis.
The last time the regents took action regarding benefits to
same-sex domestic partners, it involved health coverage. They
extended these benefits to domestic partners in 1997.
Earlier this year, same-sex domestic partners became eligible
for university family housing at UCLA.
“We’ve had to fight for each equality benefit
piecemeal,” Sanlo said. “It’s a shame it had to
happen that way.”
“If the man who just gave us $200 million were an employee
of the UC system, his partner wouldn’t get retirement
benefits,” she continued, referring to recent donor and new
UCLA School of Medicine namesake, entertainment mogul David
Geffen.