Who Is A Spouse? Changing Marriage Laws Impacts Employee Benefit Plans

The issue of same-sex marriages has been widely discussed and debated recently. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts will permit gay and lesbian couples to marry. This will significantly affect many of the employee benefits that Massachusetts employers currently provide, including health benefits, qualified retirement plans and life and dependent life insurance. It will also affect employers outside of Massachusetts; employees may travel to Massachusetts to get married, or relocate to or from Massachusetts. This Management Alert will identify some of the issues that same-sex marriages will raise for employee benefit plans and outline how these issues may be addressed.