December 20, 2018
On January 1, 2005, California’s Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act established the presumption that domestic partners are entitled to nearly all the “rights, protections, and benefits” afforded to spouses under California law. These legal protections are available to couples who register with the State of California as domestic partners and:
- Are members of the same sex or, if they are of the opposite sex, one or both are over age 62 and meet specified social security benefits eligibility criteria;
- Share a common residence;
- Neither of them is a member of another domestic partnership with someone else, or is currently married to someone else;
- Neither of them are related by blood in a way that would prevent them from being married to each other in California;
- Are both at least 18 years old; and
- Are both capable of consenting to the domestic partnership.
The following is a brief summary of California domestic partnership laws which affect California employers and employees:
Equal healthcare insurance benefits for domestic partners
The California Insurance Equality Act (CIEA), in effect since 2005, requires California health and disability insurance providers to provide coverage to the registered domestic partners of employees, subscribers, and policy holders, equal to that provided to spouses of the employees, subscribers, and policy holders. The law does not apply to self-insured health plans.
The California Insurance Equality Act was expanded and strengthened in 2012 by the Insurance Nondiscrimination Act, which applied the CIEA’s requirements to employers outside of California if they employed persons within California. Any group healthcare plan or health insurance policy marketed, issued, or delivered to a California resident must offer equal coverage to spouses and registered domestic partners, regardless of the employer’s location or the site of the contract or policy.
Businesses that contract with California must provide equal benefits to their employees with domestic partners
California Public Contract Code section 10295.3 requires certain businesses that do business with the state, no matter where the business is located, to provide the same employee benefits for registered domestic partners as they do for spouses. Generally, state agencies cannot have contracts for $100,000 or more in goods or services with a contractor that, in providing employee benefits, discriminates between employees with spouses and employees with domestic partners.
Equal family leave for employees with domestic partners
For employers covered by the California Family Rights Act (employers with 50 or more employees), the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act expanded existing family-leave law to entitle an eligible employee up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a domestic partner, or child of a domestic partner, who has a serious health condition.
Retroactive pension benefits for domestic partners of state workers
Pursuant to Senate Bill 973 of 2005, the domestic partners of retired state workers are entitled to receive the same pension benefits available to spouses of retired state workers, retroactive to the time of retirement, even if the state worker retired before the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act took effect.
Need more information?
ESKRIDGE LAW may be contacted by phone (310/303-3951), by fax (310/303-3952) or by email (geskridge@eskridgelaw.net). Please visit our website at eskridge.hv-dev.com.
This article is based on the law as of the date posted at the top of the article. This article does not constitute the provision of legal advice, and does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship with Eskridge Law.