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Defining 'Spousal' Benefits

By Michael Collins and Rebecca Justice Lazarus

Recent moves by various cities, states, and municipalities to legalize or ban same-sex marriage have generated a flood of press, but little concrete advice as to the potential implications of these laws and related court rulings. The dearth of specific and actionable analysis of the implications of these shifts in the law places law firms, as well as most large enterprises, at a competitive disadvantage by forcing them to react as these laws change. This issue is an especially pressing one for large law firms with offices in many states because the definition of “spouse,” and thus the availability of “spousal” benefits, may differ in diverse localities.

It certainly does not take a lawyer to realize the enormous potential for claims of sex discrimination that may follow on the heels of this ambiguity, and any human resources professional can attest to the importance of these types of programs to attracting and retaining talented employees. This article attempts to fill that void by providing a more detailed analysis of the implications of changes in marriage laws for law firms' benefits programs. While each firm must analyze the specifics of its benefits programs with an eye to its own unique structure and core values, this analysis should provide every firm with a starting point to evaluate the issues raised by the application of current benefits programs to same-sex spouses.

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