Google to cover health benefit "tax" on same-sex employees

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I've never heard of this odd little company called "Google," but I applaud it enthusiastically for supporting its same-sex employees:

[Yesterday], Google [began] covering a cost that gay and lesbian employees must pay when their partners receive domestic partner health benefits, largely to compensate them for an extra tax that heterosexual married couples do not pay. The increase [is] retroactive to the beginning of the year.

*****

Google is not the first company to make up for the extra tax. At least a few large employers already do. But benefits experts say Google's move could inspire its Silicon Valley competitors to follow suit, because they compete for the same talent.

Under federal law, employer-provided health benefits for domestic partners are counted as taxable income, if the partner is not considered a dependent. The tax owed is based on the value of the partner's coverage paid by the employer.

On average, employees with domestic partners will pay about $1,069 more a year in taxes than a married employee with the same coverage, according to a 2007 report by M. V. Lee Badgett, director of the Williams Institute, a research group that studies sexual orientation policy issues.

So Google is essentially going to cover those costs, putting same-sex couples on an even footing with heterosexual employees whose spouses and families receive health benefits.

Google is only doing what's right, given the injustice of federal law. The struggle continues to legalize same-sex marriage, but, in the meantime, this is just the sort of thing that needs to be done to ensure, as far as possible, that gay and lesbian couple are treated fairly.

As for Google, I've just discovered that it's actually a fairly large and well-known company, and that a lot of people use its services. Huh. Well then. Who knew? You learn something new every day out here on the information superhighway, don't you?

To support what Google is doing for its same-sex employees, I shall now go and check out the company's so-called "search engine." It sounds like a wild ride. Have any of you used it before?