New York Employers Must Provide Same-Sex Couples With The Same Bereavement Leave That They Provide to Married Couples
On August 31, 2010, New York Governor Paterson signed into a law an amendment to the New York State Civil Rights Law (Section 79-n), which just took effect on October 29, 2010. The new law requires New York employers to provide employees who are in same-sex committed relationships the same bereavement and/or funeral leave that they provide to heterosexual married employees. The law is applicable to all employers in New York State who provide bereavement leave benefits to employees, regardless of the size of the employer.
Under the new section of the Civil Rights Law, an employer who offers its employees funeral and/or bereavement leave for the death of a spouse, or the death of the parent, child or other close relative of the spouse, must now offer funeral and/or bereavement leave for the death of a "same-sex committed partner," or the death of the parent, child or other close relative of the "same-sex committed partner." The new amendment is not applicable to domestic partners generally, but instead, is limited to "same-sex committed partners." The statute defines "same-sex committed partners" as couples that are "are financially and emotionally interdependent in a manner commonly presumed of spouses." Thus, if an employee suffers the death of a same-sex partner, or of the partner's parent, child, or other relative, the employee will be statutorily entitled to the same type of unpaid leave available to employees in state-sanctioned heterosexual marriages.
This law does not, however, require employers to provide bereavement and/or funeral leave to employees. Instead, it ensures that if bereavement leave is offered to employees as a benefit, then an employee who is in a same-sex committed relationship is permitted to use bereavement leave in the same manner as if the employee's partner were his or her spouse. Simply put, it explicitly prohibits employers from discriminating against "same-sex committed partners" in the granting of bereavement and/or funeral leave.
All New York employers that currently offer bereavement and/or funeral leave are advised to update and revise their employee handbooks and personnel policies to ensure that they are in compliance with the new law. Moreover, employers should always consult a New York City employment discrimination attorney when deciding whether, pursuant to the company's policy, an employee in a same-sex relationship is entitled to funeral and/or bereavement leave.
