Want to know how HR and benefits managers are responding to all of the recent same-gender marriage controversies? Aon has posted an interesting survey on how the issue is impacting benefit plan design. The survey is here. A press release about the survey is here.
“When considering the impact of the same-gender marriage decision in Massachusetts, the largest factor that seems to drive behavior for employers is how these plans are treated by the Internal Revenue Code,” notes Paul Sullivan, an assistant vice president with Aon Consulting’s Research & Technical Services (RTS) group in Newburyport, Mass. “Federally qualified retirement plans apparently do not want to run the risk of losing their ‘qualified’ status, and this is a distinct possibility if these plans recognize same-gender spouses in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.”
Also:
The biggest issue may be the question surrounding the word “spouse” – and this is where HR leaders seem to be struggling the most. Among the survey respondents, 51 percent have not reviewed their benefit plans “to determine whether the term ‘spouse’ could include a same-gender spouse.”
(Word to the wise: Reviewing benefit plans to determine how the term ‘spouse’ is defined is critical and should not be put off.)