Same-sex marriage is not legal in Rhode Island, but employers there must make provision for employees’ same-sex spouses nonetheless. Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) on May 14 signed an executive order announcing that Rhode Island will recognize the validity of same-sex marriages entered into in states where it is legal. The executive order went into effect immediately.
Chafee’s order states that same-sex couples who live in Rhode Island and who married in other states are entitled to the same rights, benefits and obligations attendant to marriages into which opposite sex partners enter in Rhode Island.
Chafee’s order also requires all state departments, agencies and offices to review their policy statements and regulations, and to make sure that terms relating to spouses and familial relationships be used in a manner that encompasses same-sex marriages.
What to Do
Private-sector employers in Rhode Island may find it wise to adjust their policies and plan documents in accordance with this directive. They also must accord benefits they provide employees’ same-sex spouses the same state tax treatment they apply to benefits they provide opposite-sex spouses. Note, however, that this favorable tax treatment for purposes of state taxation differs from that of federal tax law and regulation, which does not extend tax breaks to employees’ same-sex spouses anywhere in the United States.
For more information on same-sex marriage and how it affects employers, see Thompson Publishing Group’s Domestic Partner Benefits: An Employer’s Guide.