Thursday, December 05, 2013

Railroads to Offer Health Care Benefits to Same-Sex Spouses

While those living in the past - and perhaps wrestling with their own demos - like Randy Forbes and similar anti-gay bigots in the GOP continue to seek to marginalize gays, the nation's largest railroad carriers have announced that they will begin offering health care benefits to legally married same sex couples starting January 1, 2014.  One of the carriers is Virginia based Norfolk Southern (based in Norfolk).  Also included is CSX Corporation which has major operations in Virginia, including in Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, and Richmond. The Virginian Pilot reports on the move by the railroad industry.  Here are highlights:

A day after being sued by legally married, gay engineers, the nation's largest freight rail carriers announced they will provide health care benefits to the same-sex spouses of their employees.

Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF Railway Co., read the statement Wednesday from the National Railway Labor Conference to The Associated Press. The conference represents the railroad companies in dealings with labor groups, lawmakers and courts.

[T]he railroads agreed with labor to provide the benefit in light of recent changes allowing same sex couples to access same federal tax benefits provided to other married couples," the conference said.

Two BNSF engineers in Washington state, one man and one woman, sued the company Tuesday over its refusal to provide benefits to their spouses. The federal lawsuit, which alleges violations of the federal Equal Pay Act, seeks class-action status on behalf of any other BNSF employees who may have been denied benefits for their same-sex spouses in a legally recognized marriage. It says the same-sex spouses have been denied benefits provided routinely to those of opposite sex.
Same-sex spouses will be eligible for dependent health care coverage starting Jan. 1, the statement said.
The rail conference represents the largest freight carriers in the nation — including units of Norfolk Southern Corp., Union Pacific Corp., CSX Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s BNSF — as well as some smaller railroads. Its statement, reported earlier Wednesday by the Omaha World Herald's Omaha.com, said employees would receive more information about the same-sex spouse health benefits in the coming weeks.

While private industry continues to move forward, Virginia's anti-gay laws make the state increasingly non-competitive when it comes to attracting top talent and employees.  All so that Christofascists can feel superior about themselves and look down on gays.  It's sick, but then so is conservative Christianity.
      

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