Morgan Stanley to Equalize Health Costs for Gay Employees

Another financial titan has decided to extend a benefit that will put its gay and lesbian employees on equal footing with their heterosexual co-workers.

Beginning Jan. 1, Morgan Stanley will begin reimbursing employees for the extra taxes they pay on health insurance for their same-sex partners. The news follows a similar announcement last week from Bank of America, which makes Morgan Stanley the sixth financial services firm to adopt the policy, joining Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas.

The new policy has also spread relatively quickly among big consulting companies, law firms and handful of big technology companies. We’ve been keeping close track of who’s doing what on a scorecard. (You can see if your company made the list here.)

For those of you who haven’t been following the issue closely, here’s some background: Under federal law, employer-provided health benefits for domestic partners are counted as taxable income, if the partner is not considered a dependent. On top of that, the employees cannot use pretax dollars to pay for their premiums — unlike their opposite-sex married counterparts.

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/morgan-stanley-to-equalize-health-costs-for-gay-employees/

anti-bigotry laws.

If MS does what the government can't/won't that just makes them all the better for it.

:toast:

been getting taxed on partner's benefits for years now