Integrating domestic partner benefits into retirement plans

Despite the fact that the central tenet of recent pension reforms is equal access to retirement benefits for all working Americans, expansion of either the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) or the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to include domestic partners is never discussed.

Nonetheless, federal regulation of retirement benefits requires all employers amend their plans by year end to reflect these reforms. Since the majority of employers sponsor tax-qualified retirement plans in which domestic partners participate, the only way to end discrimination in the provision of benefits and maintain the continuation of such benefits is for Congress to reconcile conflicting laws.

Federal vows

Most employers define the term "domestic partner" as an adult living with the employee who is not related to the employee by blood, adoption or marriage (legal or common law). The term includes opposite- and same- sex partners.

In the retirement plan arena, the term "domestic partner" is a panoply of inherent conflicts between federal, state and local laws due to a provision in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) giving each state the option to choose whether to recognize another state's definition of ... // 76% Remaining