Utah Court Rules Domestic Partner Benefits Ordinance Legal
Business Insurance reports that, in its ruling, the court said the Mayor’s decree did not appear to create “any legal status, rights, benefits or duties that are substantially equivalent to those provided under Utah law to a man and a woman because they are married.” The court noted that health benefits are not a perquisite of marriage, but of employment.
In September the Utah state agency that provides insurance to state workers and those of Salt Lake City asked the court to decide if the Mayor’s ordinance violated the state’s Defense of Marriage Law (See Utah State Agency Seeks Court Domestic Partner Benefit Decision).
The Adult Designee Benefit took effect March 3, 2006 and extends employee health insurance benefits to an employee’s dependents, including spouse and children and the “adult designee” of an unmarried employee, as well as the children of the adult designee, according to Business Insurance.
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