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Court Decision a Victory for Fairness

SEA members Patricia Bedford and Anne Breen have prevailed in a crucially important court decision(large 10MB pdf file), bringing us much closer to achieving fairness and dignity for all employees.

Bedford and Breen, both employees of the New Hampshire Community Technical Colleges, alleged unlawful discrimination based on the unequal application of employment-based benefits. Each of them, in separate long-term relationships currently lacking a legal option for marriage, objected to being denied employment benefits for which marriage determines eligibility.

In reversing a decision by the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights, the Merrimack County Superior Court found that "because marriage is legal only between opposite-sex partners, and employment benefits for domestic partners are derived only through marriage, lesbians and gay men are disparately impacted in that they are effectively excluded from certain benefits of their employment."

The court has thus affirmed that all employees should have the right to full and equal access to health care, bereavement leave, survivor benefits, and dependent care leave.

"We are pleased that the court has removed a legal barrier that resulted in real discrimination in the workplace", said Neil Twitchell, an employee of the state Department of Health and Human Services, and chairperson of the SEA's Lavender Caucus.  "The tying of benefits to marriage has resulted in denying real benefits to real families."

This is a critical issue for every union member and every employee. For decades, working people and their unions have taken stands against unfairness and discrimination. Our founding principles are based in the desire for dignity, rights, and power for all employees. We are unable to harness all of our political and economic power if we accept that certain workers or certain union members have fewer rights and are entitled to less dignity than others.

We stand for dignity and respect.  We stand united.