New
Jersey governor asks UPS to recognize same-sex unions

New Jersey governor Jon S. Corzine sent a letter Friday to the United Parcel Service of America--UPS--asking the shipping conglomerate to recognize the state's civil unions law and offer gay employees benefits for their partners similar to those of married workers.

The company has been targeted by gay rights activists, who assert that partnered gay employees are not being treated the same as their married coworkers regardless of state laws that requires employers to do so.

UPS argues that the New Jersey law does not change company policy, which is governed by federal law.

Corzine said the company should consider extending benefits anyway.

"Surely, as a company with a long-standing commitment to its employees and the community, UPS would not want to make its employees and their families face these difficult choices based on the subtleties of the interaction of federal and state law," Corzine wrote.

The LGBT advocacy group Lambda Legal initiated the bid to try to force UPS to provide partner's benefits for its gay employees. Lambda Legal senior staff attorney David Buckel told CBS that he appreciates the governor's letter of support.

"It's quite a governor who reaches out to help a couple families like this," he said to CBS. "We don't know if we'll get a letter from the governor for each family and each company."

Steven Goldstein, chairman of the LGBT rights group Garden State Equality, told the Associated Press that the UPS situation is not an isolated incident.

"When you have hundreds of companies in New Jersey refusing to respect this law, there's something wrong with the law itself," Goldstein said to AP.

In February, New Jersey became at the time the third state to recognize civil unions for same-sex couples. The law was a reaction to a state supreme court decision that asked the legislature to extend to gay partners benefits similar to those of married straight couples, including employee health benefits. (The Advocate)