Domestic Partnership Benefits And Obligations Act

The introduction and passing of the domestic partnership and obligations act of 2009 which is result of many years of concerted effort in caucusing and lobbying Legislators by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender federal employees bolstered by the Support of interest groups like civil rights bodies, more specifically the Human Rights Campaign led by its president Joe Solmonese gives this homogeneous group equal rights as their heterogeneous counterparts in the workforce (New York Times, Dec 2009).

Insensitive and discriminative nature federal government policy that has been in place over the past years regarding health insurance, life insurance and government pension together with other related benefits and obligations that different-sex worker are given. The proposal in the act that everyone gets an equal share of their contribution regardless Of their sexual orientation is a milestone in giving the otherwise disadvantaged group Equal rights to other workers. Gays and lesbians have for a long time been discriminated Against, not only in the workplace but also in the general society as they are viewed as

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weird and hence outcasts who do not deserve to be accorded any rights leave alone being treated in a humane way. The failure to give same-sex couples equal payment to same different-sex couples is a great violation of their rights because each worker should be entitled to their rightful share no matter who their spouse is. The consideration here is based on the fact that being gay or lesbian does not lower one’s performance in the workplace, does not change the atmosphere or affect relations with other workmates therefore it des not affect production or the projected output.

This being the case the federal government had no justification for denying the gays and lesbians equal treatment. Certainly their homosexuality does not make them less able compared to their heterosexual workmates nor does it make them lesser beings or workers although it is a big issue to moral ethicists and most religious leaders and groups. The government has in recent years lost a significant number of employees to the private sector and federal contractors most of whom accommodate anyone so long as they merit that job without considering whether their spouse is same or different sex.

Benefits related to employment, health and life insurance cover for the spouses of all workers is guaranteed and who the their spouse is does not really count. This was the main consideration in passing the Domestic Partnership and Obligations Act in 2009. The government realized that it was losing big talent and skill to the private sector and federal Contractors from among the gay and lesbian workforce, leaving a huge gap and making it lose the many years of effort and labor it took to train the departing workers besides

making it less competitive compared to the private sector (Johnson, 2009) Lack of motivation was greatly eating into the federal government workforce due to the unequal manner in which the employees were treated in terms of insuring the health and life of the partners of gays and lesbians alongside giving them less government pensions despite the fact that they contributed the same amount with different-sex employees yet their spouses got a much bigger share until the legislators came to their rescue after prompting, lobbying and prodding by civil rights groups led by the Human Rights Campaign.

This marks a reversal of the brain drain that was being experienced before the enactment of the bill (http://www. govexec. com/dailyfed/1209/121609ar1. htm) With the employees’ spouses now being treated equally in term of the benefits they get in the field of health insurance, life insurance and government pensions there is renewed vigor due to motivation in employees. Equality is an important factor in any and indeed all places of work because it makes everyone feel needed therefore they tent to give their best. If an employee contributes thirty per cent of his earnings but his spouse

gets ten per cent then you can only guess that this will lead to lack of motivation and will make the employee lack focus on his job and possibly start casting his eyes elsewhere if he thinks better terms exist there. The federal government now gives the employees a chance top prove their competitiveness at the place of work and the government is mow able to retain its employees because it recognizes everyone and the fact that the gay and the lesbians are assured of assured of their partners health is enough to motivate them into giving all their best in their service to the government.

This act also puts to rest the feeling by the gays and the lesbians that the government was exploiting them financially. The government refused to recognize an employees spouse of the same gender and yet money was being deducted from the employee and this, in the real, sense amounted to exploitation or some form of theft. Retirement package and other benefits such as health insurance, life insurance and ether benefits era a big affair to most if not all workers in all organizations or institutions where they work because it relieves them of the burden of bearing all the bills for their

Spouses’ heath and life. The employee’s sex life or lives should not concern the federal government. An employee’s output is determined by the manner in which he approaches and performs his duties and the skill he has for the particular duties that he has to perform. Competence is the key factor in this case and it is an invariable that knows no one’s sex sexual orientation. One’s sexuality should be treated purely as private mater and besides it is insignificant. The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (2009) brings a new dimension in federal government workforce.

There is the aspect of job security as opposed to the private sector where terns and conditions are performance e based. A workforce that treats all employees equally in terms of the privileges it gives the employees for example health insurance, life insurance, pensions and such other fridge benefits registers a high turnover compared to ones that offer little and unattractive Packages (Eleveld, 2009). The government therefore avoids further loss of its employees to other employers in the private sector and the federal contractors. This group has for a

long time been the employer of choice in the United States of America because all insurance health and life insurance needs besides pension package are well catered for. The federal government is now operating on the same level as do the private sector and Competitiveness has been achieved because it can now retain valued talent and skill in employees who would otherwise left for more lucrative employment in the other sectors, mainly the private sector where family and medical leave is given as spousal benefit is given as spousal benefits on equal basis (Johnson, 2009).

Most of the leading private companies and federal contractors in America offer their workers a very enticing package in the form of domestic partner benefits. Among these companies are the American Airlines, Microsoft, Citigroup, Time Warner, Xerox, Raytheon, Shell Oil and many others. There are some thirteen states who are now already offering these benefits to their employees in a bid to put them at par with the different-sex couple workers so as to retain competent employees and reach out to the most sharp and the highly qualified. Most of federal government employees who are highly skilled and highly talented

have in recent times been switching over to these leading private sector companies and organizations where their rights are respected and granted. Spousal benefits matter and mean a lot to them so they find it not worth sticking with an employer who does not satisfy their needs hence the crossover. The federal government is the greatest loser considering the fact that it has spent many years and resources including labor in training them only to lose them to the competitors for some simple and unreasonable reasons that could have been avoided with the enactment of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and

Obligations Act to appease and retain them (Stuffleman & Webster) The federal government ought to have seen it coming. The changing times and trends in the civil society should have caught its attention and known when to change tact. The spirited campaigns by Gay Rights crusaders and the unrelenting advocacy by the Human Rights Campaigners of the last decade served as an indicator that this group could not just have been wished away. The movers in the private sector capitalized on the federal government’s adamant stance on refusal to grant them equal rights in terms of

employment benefits and obligation to the spouse and started eating into its workforce, poaching the best and competitive talent from among the disadvantaged group that gays and lesbians are. The federal government can now afford to smile. The Domestic Partnership and Obligations Act guarantees all workers equal spousal rights and the homosexuals can now continue to work with motivation to post bigger returns and production. SUMMARY The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligation Act of 2009 is a big step towards ensuring that equality is upheld in all sectors of the civil society. People of the

same –sex marriages have had it extremely difficult to gain recognition in the society and more specifically in the workplace. The federal government had, in most states refused to recognize their spouses and therefore had refused to give them equal opportunities in the area of spousal benefits in the workforce but their resilience has finally come to bear fruit. Any gay or lesbian worker can now rest assured of a health insurance, life insurance and pension package for their spouse as opposed to earlier times where the government refused to recognize these spouses and therefore the disadvantaged group had to put up

with injustices committed to them by an uncaring and totally unconcerned workforce of the federal government (Johnson, 2009) This act will motivate the employees because they can now work freely without Unnecessarily having to worry about the health insurance, life insurance and retirement package of their otherwise unrecognized spouses because the Act to ensures spousal rights their loved ones. It has a positive impact in terms of maximum utility of recourses. Job switches to the private sector will be checked and state corporations can now function

efficiently in terms of service delivery to the tax payer. The rights of the homosexuals are granted in the sense that they get what they pay with fellow workmates who have different-sex spouses, as each one has a rightful share of what belongs to them. Their spouses can now get their share equal to that given to spouses of heterosexuals (http://www. govexec. com/dailyfed/1209/121609ar1. htm ). REFERENCES: Eleveld, (2009). "Senate Committee Passes DP Benefits" The Advocate http://www. advocate. com/News/DailyNews/2009/12/16/Senate_Committee_Passes_DP_Benefits

http://www. govexec. com/dailyfed/1209/121609ar1. htm Article in Government Executive about the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act. Eleveld, (2009). "Obama Extends Partner Benefits". The Advocate. http://www. advocate. com/news_detail_ektid91364. asp Johnson, (2009). "Gay rights bills remain stalled in Congress". The Advocate, http://www. washblade. com/2009/5-29/news/national/14609. cfmM New York Times, Dec 2009). Stufflebeam & Webster, (1980). An analysis of alternative approaches to evaluation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

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