Administrative Policy #3.05 - Spouse and Unmarried Domestic Partner Benefits
Purpose
The City of Corvallis values all employees and strives to treat all employees with equity. This Policy ensures employees are treated the same in the application of City policies, compensation, or benefits due to sexual orientation or marital status.
Scope
This Policy applies to all City employees.
Policy
Domestic partners and their legal dependents are eligible for the same benefits under the same conditions as provided to spouses and legal dependents of married employees.
Procedures
Employees may utilize sick leave, bereavement leave, or parental or family medical leave as allowable by law for a spouse or domestic partner. For the purposes of City benefits, the following terms used in the employee handbook and bargaining unit agreements shall be interpreted to include domestic partners: immediate family, family members, wife, husband, spousal equivalent, and family.
Nothing in this Policy shall be held to require the City of Corvallis to provide a benefit in violation of State or Federal law.
Guidelines
Spouse or Domestic Partner Health Insurance Coverage
To enroll a spouse or domestic partner on the City's health insurance plan, the Affidavit of Marriage or Domestic Partnership attached to this Policy and supporting documentation must be submitted to Human Resources within 30 days of a qualifying event:
- The employee's date of hire;
- The date of marriage or date new domestic partnership began;
- The date the spouse or domestic partner lost other health insurance coverage.
If such documentation is not submitted within 30 days of the qualifying event date, the employee must wait until the annual open-enrollment period to add his/her spouse and/or step-children or domestic partner and/or domestic partner's children to the health insurance plan.
Health insurance benefits provided to employees through their collective bargaining representative may not provide coverage for domestic partners, based upon the collective bargaining representative's plan rules. In this situation, the City shall reimburse the employee for domestic partner coverage purchased on the open insurance market, up to the limit allowed by the collective bargaining agreement.
Tax Consequences of Domestic Partner Health Insurance
An employee who enrolls a domestic partner and/or a domestic partner's children on the City's health insurance plan will pay taxes on the value of the health insurance coverage provided to the domestic partner. The value of the domestic partner's health insurance coverage is considered wages, is included in the employee's gross taxable income, and is subject to State and Federal income tax and FICA withholding. The following exceptions apply:
a. Under Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, health insurance premium paid for an employee's domestic partner and the children of an employee's domestic partner is subject to Federal tax, unless the domestic partner qualifies as the employee's tax dependent. If a domestic partner qualifies as the employee's tax dependent, then no portion of the premium is taxable.
b. Under State of Oregon law, health insurance premium paid for an employee's domestic partner and the children of an employee's domestic partner is subject to State tax, unless the domestic partner is the same gender as the employee or the domestic partner qualifies as the employee's tax dependent. If a domestic partner is the same gender as the employee or qualifies as the employee's tax dependent, then no portion of the premium is taxable.
When a domestic partner is an employee's tax dependent, the employee may submit to Human Resources the Declaration of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status form attached to this Policy. Upon receipt of this declaration form, the City will cease taxation of the value of the domestic partner's health insurance coverage.
When a domestic partner ceases to qualify as the employee's tax dependent, the employee shall submit to Human Resources the Statement of Termination of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status attached to this Policy.
This is only a summary of the tax consequences of health insurance coverage for a domestic partner and/or a domestic partner's children and should not be relied upon as legal or tax advice. Employees should consult a tax professional before submitting the Declaration of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status form.
Divorce or End of Domestic Partnership
Within 30 days of the date of a divorce or end of a domestic partnership, the employee shall submit to Human Resources the Statement of Dissolution of Marriage or Domestic Partnership attached to this Policy and submit the appropriate forms to cancel health insurance coverage for the former spouse or domestic partner and their children. If failure to submit the Statement of Dissolution of Marriage or Domestic Partnership within 30 days causes the City of Corvallis to pay for health insurance for a former spouse or domestic partner and/or their children, the cost of that coverage will be deducted from the employee's paycheck.
Falsification of the Affidavit of Marriage or Domestic Partnership, the Statement of Dissolution of Marriage or Domestic Partnership, the Declaration of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status, the Statement of Termination of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status, or supporting documentation is grounds for disciplinary action, including termination of employment.
Human Resources shall hold the Affidavit of Marriage or Domestic Partnership, the Statement of Dissolution of Marriage or Domestic Partnership, the Declaration of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status, the Statement of Termination of Domestic Partner Tax-Dependent Status, and supporting documentation thereto exempt from public disclosure to the extent allowable under law.
Definitions
Domestic Partnership: two persons in which the partners:
a. Jointly share the same permanent residence and intend to continue to do so indefinitely;
b. Are committed to each other to the same extent as married persons are committed to each other, except that the partners do not have the status of a traditional marriage and have not undergone the traditional solemnities;
c. Are not legally married to anyone;
d. Are each eighteen (18) years of age or older or are emancipated minors as recognized under Oregon law;
e. Are not related to each other by blood in a degree of kinship which would bar marriage in the State of Oregon;
f. Were mentally competent to contract when the domestic partnership began;
g. Are each other's sole domestic partner; and
h. Are financially inter-dependent and jointly responsible to each other for basic living expenses, such as the cost of basic food, shelter, and any other expenses of the domestic partnership which are paid at least in part by a program or benefit for which the partner qualified because of domestic partnership (ex. rent, mortgage, insurance, utilities).
Supporting documentation for a spouse: a marriage license. Supporting documentation for a domestic partnership shall include one or more of the following:
a. State of Oregon Declaration of Domestic Partnership;
b. Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership;
c. Joint mortgage, rental, or lease agreement;
d. Joint home or rental insurance policy;
e. Joint utility bills;
f. Joint bank account; or
g. Any other documentation that supports the joint responsibility for basic living expenses.
Review/Update
The Human Resources Director will prepare this Administrative Policy review every three years in May, or when necessitated by changes in State or Federal law, for City Manager approval.
Last reviewed: 05-2013
