Cost of Domestic Partner Benefits

The costs of providing domestic partner benefits are minimal.

Domestic partners are two people in a long-term, committed, exclusive relationship who are financially interdependent. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the costs of providing domestic partners with the same benefits as a married couple are minimal.

History

The Village Voice, a New York City publication, offered the first domestic partner benefits in 1982, HRC explains. A large number of national and global companies, including the majority of the Fortune 500 companies, also offer domestic partner benefits.

Costs

The majority of companies see very little difference in cost when extending benefits to domestic partners, according to HRC. In 2005, Hewitt Associates, a human resource consulting and outsourcing company, found that 64 percent of companies see a financial impact of less than one percent on total benefits costs and 88 percent of companies see a impact of less than two percent.

Considerations

According to HRC, opponents of domestic partner benefits speculated that due to the high number of same-sex couples who qualify, benefits costs would rise. However, Hewitt Associates determined in 2000 there is no significant difference in the cost of offering benefits to domestic partners versus married couples.

References

• Human Rights Campaign: Domestic Partner Benefits: Cost and Utilization
• ACLU: The True Cost of Providing Domestic Partner Benefits
• Human Rights Campaign: Domestic Partner Benefits
• Human Rights Campaign: FAQ Domestic Partner Benefits
• Hewitt Associates