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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJune 17th, 2009
The White House has issued this fact sheet on the Presidential Memorandum on federal benefits that he is due to sign later this afternoon. Some of this which touches on the foreign services has already been announced last month.
Fact Sheet: Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination
In an Oval Office event later today, President Barack Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. The Memorandum follows a review by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management ant the Secretary of State regarding what benefits may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees in the civil service and the foreign service within the confines of existing federal laws and statutes.
Over the past several months, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State have conducted internal reviews to determine whether the benefits they administer may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees within the confines of existing laws and statutes. Both identified a number of such benefits.
For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children. For foreign service employees, a number of benefits were identified, including the use of medical facilities at posts abroad, medical evacuation from posts abroad, and inclusion in family size for housing allocations.
The Presidential Memorandum to be signed today will request that the Director of OPM and the Secretary of State act to extend to same-sex partners of federal employees the benefits they have identified. The Memorandum will also request the heads of all other executive branch departments and agencies to conduct internal reviews to determine whether other benefits they administer might be similarly extended, and to report the results of those reviews to the Director of OPM.
The Memorandum will also direct OPM to issue guidance within 90 days to all executive departments and agencies regarding compliance with, and implementation of, the civil service laws, which make it unlawful to discriminate against federal employees or applicants for federal employment on the basis of factors not related to job performance.
[Hat tip: Queerty]
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steve
June 17th, 2009
Pathetic attempt at quieting the GLBT community. Please, Please do not allow this to happen. We must fight for our civil rights. NO MORE CRUMBS!!!!!
Timothy Kincaid
June 17th, 2009
The new benefits:
1. inclusion in long-term care insurance program (is this federally funded or is it voluntary and employee paid?)
2. new rules under which an employee can take their sick leave
This is nothing. There is no private sector employer in the country that would try to spin this as a major new benefit. This would go out in an email from HR if it wasn’t just buried in the details of annual plan changes.
Chad
June 17th, 2009
I am a federal employee and have been waiting all day to find out what these benefits would be. What a let down. These “benefits” mean close to nothing to me or most other gay federal employees. Long-term care benefits are paid for by the employee and my employer is already required to let me take sick leave to care for my husband under the family-friedly leave act. What a lame attempt to give us something that is nothing. This only adds insult to injury.
Jake
June 17th, 2009
This is pathetic!
Gay spouses can use medical facilities at posts abroad, but they have to pay out of pocket for them!
It’s offensive.
Scott P.
June 17th, 2009
The president has got to shut us up somehow, doesn’t he? After all, there’s a big fund raiser next week and the fags have to be kept happy, or they might not open their wallets and shell-out thousands, just for the privilege of being ignored.
My parent’s both work for the federal government and had fantastic benefits for it. These were slashed by Reagan, then by Gingrich. And even after that they were light years ahead of what’s being offered here.
This is disgusting!
staci
June 17th, 2009
I know it is not a lot but I am a federal employee living overseas with my spouse. I’m hoping that at least now I can sponsor her so that she can stay overseas with me legally. Maybe I can get a bump in my living quarters allowance and some extra post allowance like all the other married people I work with here. It is better than nothing and hopefully the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act is passed before too long and then we will have the same exact benefits as my co-workers in the federal government and there will be no need for this memo.
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