Fedweek

The Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding same-sex marriage nationally will not have any immediate impact on spousal and survivor benefits for federal workers and retirees, OPM has said, although it could impact benefits for unmarried domestic partners. “In the interim period while states work to implement the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision, our rules continue to apply.The same-sex spouse of a federal employee or annuitant is eligible for federal benefits as an eligible family member if the marriage is considered legally valid within the jurisdiction in which it occurred, regardless of whether the married couple lives in that jurisdiction,” OPM said in guidance to agencies. Those benefits include spousal benefits under the FEHB, FEGLI, FEDVIP, FLTCIP and FSA programs. Same-sex domestic partners are not eligible for those benefits but they have been made eligible, through a series of Obama administration directives, under certain benefits including the right to use FMLA leave or sick leave to care for a family member. Employee organizations have raised the possibility that those benefits might be revoked in light of the high court decision, since the justification for extending those benefits was that same-sex couples could not legally marry in every state. Said the OPM guidance, “Same-sex couples who are in a civil union or other forms of domestic partnership other than marriage are not considered legally married. Therefore, domestic partners of federal employees or annuitants remain ineligible for most federal benefits programs. There is no immediate change to the benefits OPM has extended, to the extent permissible under the law, to same-sex domestic partners.”