Scroll To Top
World

Countersuit filed
in Salt Lake City benefits dispute

Countersuit filed
in Salt Lake City benefits dispute

Salt Lake City has filed a countersuit in the dispute over whether the city can offer health insurance benefits to the domestic partners of city employees. Last month Mayor Rocky Anderson signed an executive order granting the benefits to unmarried couples--straight and gay. Filed in third district court on Wednesday, the city's lawsuit contends such benefits are legal under state law. "The executive order does not affect the public at large in any way," court documents said. "It does not create any new form of domestic union, nor does it create any rights or obligations even remotely equivalent to the basket of rights and obligations that automatically attach to marriage under Utah law." A week ago the Public Employees Health Program, which manages the city's health plans, filed a lawsuit asking a judge to decide the issue. PEHP asked for a decision from Judge Stephen L. Roth by November 1. Utah law--and its constitution--ban same-sex marriage as well as the granting of any type of legal status to relationships other than a marriage between a man and a woman. Anderson, who is also an attorney, said his order addresses only a narrow area of employee benefits. "It does not even come close to affecting the full panoply of rights, benefits, and obligations that together comprise the 'legal effect' of marriage," the lawsuit said. The city is blocked from offering any benefits until a judge rules, city attorney Ed Rutan said. Anderson has said he expects about 30 city employees to apply for the benefit and had hoped to begin offering it during a 30-day open-enrollment period in November. In a separate case, the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based conservative religious group, also filed a lawsuit contending that Anderson's order violates state law. (AP)

Advocate Channel - The Pride StoreOut / Advocate Magazine - Fellow Travelers & Jamie Lee Curtis

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Outtraveler Staff