Domestic Partner Benefits at Idaho Public Universities

Dear Colleagues,

Below is a proposal addressing the possibility of extending Health Insurance Benefits to Domestic
Partners at public universities in Idaho.  No single university or state agency can institute such a
change, therefore it is important to build a strong “grass root” support among the major faculty
and staff constituencies on public campuses across Idaho.  From there we can approach the
appropriate individuals and agencies to begin a dialogue and hopefully evoke a change to include
Domestic Partners in our current coverage.  Please share this document with the faculty and staff
constituency groups on your campus and come to a consensus on whether the group and/or institution
would support this policy.

Domestic Partner Benefits at Idaho Public Universities

Extending Domestic Partner Benefits to employees is an increasingly common practice and often
perceived to be an essential part of fair and equitable hiring practices among universities,
businesses, and governments. Currently, Idaho State University and Boise State University offer
various “Soft Benefits” to Domestic Partners.  These include library privileges (ISU and BSU),
recreational facilities access (ISU and BSU), Credit Union Membership (BSU), FMLA (BSU), as
well as others.  Now is the time to lay the groundwork for offering Health Benefits to Domestic Partners.

Employers typically create their own definitions of what constitutes domestic partners and thereby
decide who is eligible for domestic partner benefits. Generally, however, Domestic Partners are
two individuals, either of opposite gender or same gender, who are in long-term relationships
that include shared responsibilities for each other's care and financial and well-being.  Such
definitions frequently require that partners have lived together for at least six months, are
responsible for each other's financial welfare, are at least 18 years old, and are mentally
competent to enter into a legal contract.

Listed below are the number of businesses, universities, and governments in the United States
that offer Domestic Partner Health Benefits as of September 2006*:

            299 Colleges and Universities

263 Fortune 500 Companies

            8699 Private Sector Companies

            13 State Governments

            137 City and County Governments

* Numbers and names of these organizations are supplied by the Human Rights Campaign.
(www.hrc.org)

Universities in neighboring states that offer Domestic Partner Health Benefits*:

Oregon

Oregon Health and Science University (1998)

Portland State (1998)

Portland Community College (1995)

Reed College (2003)

Southern Oregon University (1998)

University of Oregon – Eugene

University of Oregon – Portland

Washington

Pacific Lutheran University (2001)

University of Washington - Seattle (2001)

University of Washington – Bothell (2001)

University of Washington – Tacoma (2001)

University of Puget Sound

Montana

University of Montana (2005)

Utah

University of Utah (2003)

* Numbers and names of these organizations are supplied by the Human Rights Campaign.
(www.hrc.org)

Domestic Partner Benefits are good for your institution.

Offering Domestic Partner Benefits speaks directly to the spirit and intention of non-discrimination
policies in place at most public institutions of higher learning.

Idaho State University’s Faculty/Staff Handbook Part 4, Section I – General Personnel Policies
subsection P, it states:

“Idaho State University strives to maintain a campus environment where all decisions affecting an individual's education, employment, or access to programs, facilities or services are based on bona fide occupational or educational criteria such as merit or performance. Irrelevant factors or personal characteristics that have no connection with such bona fide criteria have no place in the University's decision making. Accordingly, to the extent that it does not conflict with a contractual obligation or state, federal or local law or regulation, it is the policy of Idaho State University that an individual's sexual orientation is an irrelevant factor and shall not be a basis for institutional decisions relating to education, employment, or access to programs, facilities or services.”

Boise State University’s Human Resources page states:

It is the mission of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action to ensure Boise State University compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations pertaining to non-discrimination and affirmative action. The EEO/Affirmative Action Office creates and monitors the Boise State Affirmative Action Plan and implements innovative programs to increase Boise State's awareness of and commitment to diversity, equity and affirmative action in the workplace. The Office is dedicated to preventing illegal discrimination and illegal harassment. Through educational programs, investigations and resolution of complaints, and oversight activities, the Office fosters an environment and culture that supports all members of the community.

Principles:

Diversity is not defined exclusively by race or gender. It extends to age, sex, religion, sexual orientation, veteran's status, physical and mental ability and national origin or ancestry.  Diversity among staff, students and faculty contributes to the richness of the University community and offers Boise State an opportunity to realize its excellence.  Diversity is fostered by a culture that respects individual differences and where everyone is treated with courtesy and consideration.

The Lewis-Clark State College Catalogue states:

Nondiscrimination

It is the policy of LCSC to provide equal educational and employment opportunities, services and benefits to students and employees in accordance, where applicable, with provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and other state and federal laws and regulations concerning employment, admission to programs or the operation of educational programs and activities. Inquiries about the application of these regulations to the college may be directed to its Affirmative Action Office, or the Director, Office of Civil Rights, US Department of Health, Education and Human Services.

University of Idaho’s Faculty/Staff Handbook – Section 3215 states:

A.  The University of Idaho regards discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to be inconsistent with its goal of providing an atmosphere in which students, faculty, and staff may learn, work, and live. The University of Idaho values the benefits of cultural diversity and pledges to students, prospective students, employees and the public that it will defend pluralism in the academic community, and warmly welcomes all men and women of good will without regard to sexual orientation.

B.  Practices or regulations that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation are neither condoned nor permitted. This policy applies to only the following University of Idaho operations:

B-1.  personnel decisions

Offering Domestic Partner Benefits promotes equity in the workplace, including equal pay for equal work. 
Moreover, such benefits may help the Universities recruit nationally recognized scholars, teachers,
researchers, and other staff by offering highly competitive compensation packages for all prospective
employees. By denying portions of a benefits package to employees who are not married or choose
not to legally marry, disparities are created that are unrelated to job performance or the value of
an employee’s contribution to the university’s goals and mission.  Actual wages and salary typically
constitutes between 60% and 80% of an employee’s total compensation package.  Fringe benefits,
therefore, constitute a significant portion of a total compensation package.  These generally include
“hard” benefits like such as health insurance that is currently available only to spouses and family
members of employees who are legally married and/or divorced.  Unfortunately, many valuable
and productive university employees in Idaho are unable to extend benefits to their life partners,
thereby effectively creating two tiers of compensation for the employees occupying similar positions.

Domestic Partner Benefits are good for recruiting the best employees.

Offering full Domestic Partner Benefits can significantly improve a university’s competitive position in
the job market and help them retain their most productive employees.  A 2006 ad-hoc committee
on faculty retention and recruitment in the College of Arts and Sciences at Idaho State University found
that family accommodation is a widespread concern among employees. Therefore, the committee
proposed a Family Accommodation Ideas and Resources Plan (FAIR Plan), that specifically calls for
domestic partner benefits.  Hiring and retaining the best people means that universities can
provide the best instruction to students and will no doubt help them enhance their research productivity
and service to the public. We all know that employee turnover is expensive – the average cost of a
faculty search is in the thousands of dollars.  Moreover, employee turn over negatively effects
productivity, faculty morale, and even student performance and graduation rates—especially at the
graduate level.   Employers that do not have an inclusive environment that treats all employees
with dignity and respect, including equitable compensation, will increasingly lose current and
potential talent to employers that do.

Offering Domestic Partner Benefits would be extremely beneficial to a couple that moved to take
a job for one partner while the other looks for other full-time employment – as is often the
case in academia.  Unmarried partnerships have grown significantly in the U.S.  The most
recent data available shows the number of unmarried partner household increased by 11%
from 1994 to 1998.  It is safe to assume this trend has continued.

Domestic Partner Benefits are good for the bottom line.

Domestic Partner Benefits are inexpensive enhancements to overall compensation packages
and essential for a university that values diversity and wishes to compete in today’s market
place.   Under our current health coverage in the State of Idaho, the cost for the university to
extend benefits to an employee’s spouse and dependents is already figured into the hiring of
each full time faculty and staff member.  It costs the university the same amount per
employee whether or not he/she is single, married, or married with dependent children
(approximately $6531.00 per year at Idaho State University) should the employee choose
to enroll.  An addition of a spouse or dependant children on the policy is an expense picked
up by the employee in his/her premium.  Furthermore, a 1997 issue of Risk Management
reported that many companies found covering a domestic partner is typically less
expensive than covering a spouse.

Furthermore, two decades of employer experience in offering domestic partner health benefits
have proven that the overall cost is quite low.  Most insurance companies now charge the
same rate for domestic partners as they do for legal spouses.  Studies have also shown that
enrollment rates tend to be in the 1 – 2 % range since the majority of domestic partners
often have their own insurance through their own employers. Although rates of enrollment
have been proven to be low time and time again, enrollment rates that might be
higher will not significantly increase cost.  A 2005 Hewitt Associates study revealed 64%
of companies experience a total financial impact of less than 1% of total benefits cost while
only 5% of employers experience financial impact of 3% or greater total benefits cost

What we are asking for:

That domestic partner benefits will match the Health Insurance benefits currently offered to
all spouses of full-time employees of public universities in the State of Idaho. This includes:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Mental Health
• FMLA and other leave policies extended to all employees (BSU offers this already)

Affidavit of a domestic partnership.

Like married couples, domestic partnerships should require proof of the arrangement. For
example, Idaho State University already has in place a process for proving domestic
partnerships to attain a “Bengal Card” for an employee’s partner under the arrangement to
offer “Soft Benefits” as of Spring 2005. The current system requires that domestic partners
provide evidence of financial enmeshment.  A consensus among the public universities can
stipulate that certain criteria are met to define domestic partners. This can include a
legally binding statement attesting to the existence of a bona fide domestic partnership.  
The parties involved would have to pay back any cost to the university if the partnership is
found to be fraudulent.  However, there is no reason to assume that domestic partners
are more likely to falsify a partnership than married couples.

Under ISU’s current system for offering “Soft Benefits” to domestic partners, the partners
provide proof of the majority of stipulations below (3 of 5):

• Have lived together for a specified period (generally, at least six months) and share
  a mortgage or lease
• Are the beneficiaries in each other’s wills
• Have joint checking and/or savings accounts
• Designate each other as primary beneficiaries in each other’s life insurance policies,
  pension, or retirement plans
• Provide evidence of dependent children living with or financially dependent on the partners

Further, an additional legal affidavit, created by a legal professional, could include statements
attesting that the partners (taken from models of other universities that offer health
insurance to domestic partners):

• Are responsible for each other’s financial welfare
• Are not blood relatives
• Are at least 18 years of age
• Are mentally competent
• Are life partners and not legally married to anyone else
• Will agree to inform the company in the event that the domestic partnership terminates

Domestic Partner Benefits are good for the future of Idaho Universities.

Extending Domestic Partner benefits to university employees is a logical step within the scope
of fair and equitable employment policies. Further, Domestic Partner benefits are essential
to a university that hopes to grow and improve its services to students, faculty and staff. The
public universities in Idaho could easily spearhead this effort to get the State of Idaho to change
its policy and offer health insurance to Domestic Partners.

How we move forward:

The first step towards ensuring equality for all university employees is to build a “grass root”
constituent support for this policy.  At Idaho State University, we have made presentations to all
major constituency groups on campus:  Faculty Senate, Classified Employees Council (CEC), Council
of Professional Employee (COPE), Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Financial
Services, and the President.  The constituency groups had an opportunity to discuss and vote on
the issue.  All of them have given their support of this policy.  The other public universities in
Idaho:  Boise State, Lewis-Clark State College, and University of Idaho would be asked to do the
same so that all public universities in Idaho are given an equal voice in the process. 

With the exception of University of Idaho, health benefits are regulated by the State of
Idaho – Department of Administration; individual state agencies do not have the authority to
negotiate a group insurance contract.  The State lists status and health packages according to
a code system.  In order to change or add an individual health code there would have to be a
change to the State code.

Once we built a strong constituency base among all public universities in Idaho, our next
step may include a presentation to the State Board of Education, made by a spokesperson
representing all the universities or a letter of support signed by all the university Presidents.

Once there is a clear supportive message from all public universities and possibly the State
Board of Education, we would then approach the Department of Administration for the
State of Idaho, or more particularly, the Office of Group Insurance.

The threat of House Joint Resolution 2 (HJR 2).

On November 7^th, the citizens of Idaho will be voting on a proposed amendment to the Idaho
State Constitution that would “prohibit the State of Idaho, or any of its political subdivisions, from
granting any or all of the legal benefits of marriage to civil unions, domestic partnerships, or any
other relationship that attempts to approximate marriage” (Bill Text – House Joint Resolution 2). 
If this amendment passes, state agencies (this includes public universities) will not be able to extend
any type of benefits to Domestic Partners, because doing so would be in violation of the State Constitution. 
Only spouses contracted by civil marriage with an employee, currently only offered to one man and
one woman, may be eligible to receive benefits.  This includes the “Soft Benefits” that Idaho State
University and Boise State University currently offer to Domestic Partners of its employees.

With that in mind, it is even more important for the public universities in Idaho to quickly and
publicly support offering Domestic Partner Benefits to its employees.  If this resolution passes, it
will impact of the types of benefits universities and other state agencies could offer its employees,
thus creating the scenario where the retention and recruitment of outstanding employees could
be in serious jeopardy.

Our strategic plan may be revised as we move forward and attain more information on procedural issues,
but for the time it is vital that we garner support from all constituencies at the public universities. 
I am requesting that this be done in a timely manner, with final votes and approval from all groups by
November 1, 2006.  Letters of support from the various constituency groups can be sent to me
via e-mail at massjohn@isu.edu.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Dr. John Masserini
Vice Chair/Chair Elect of ISU Faculty Senate
Associate Professor of Music
Idaho State University
921 S. 8th Avenue, Stop 8099
Pocatello, ID 83209-8099