On Jan. 1, Publix Super Markets began a 30-day enrollment period for employees in same-sex marriages to enroll themselves and their families in healthcare benefits.
The new enrollment period is an extension of the company’s healthcare plan, which was previously only provided for employees in straight marriages. The healthcare plan is available to the spouses and children of employees, and includes a group health plan with prescription benefits, group dental plan and group vision plan. Employees who wish to include their spouses or children on their plans must submit a marriage certificate for their spouse and birth certificates for their children.
President of NSU’s Gay Straight Alliance Sara Staley, sophomore psychology major, said, “It’s really cool that we have that representation of equality and recognizing that same-sex marriage has equal rights to straight marriage.”
Full-time associates are eligible for benefits after their first 90 days of full-time employment, and part-time associates are eligible after working 1500 hours in a calendar year. In order to receive the benefits, employees must complete the health care forms provided by Publix.
The Winter Haven-based super market chain is operated in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina. Director of Media and Community Relations at Publix Super Markets Maria Brous said that because North Carolina and South Carolina legalized same-sex marriages at the end of 2014, the Publix Corporation felt all Publix associates, regardless of state, should receive the same benefits.
“For us, it was about offering all of our associates the same health-care plan, so their families can be healthy. Since we were going to offer the coverage in the North and South Carolina, it made sense for us to extend that coverage to all of our associates, regardless of the state in which they work,” she said.
The extension came days before Florida became the 37th state to legalize gay marriage on Jan. 6.
“Perceptions have definitely changed as far as the LGBT community goes,” Staley said. “We’ve gone from having only a few states legalize gay marriage to having 37 states recognize same-sex marriage.”
Staley also said she hopes the state progresses further.
“A big move we’d like to see in Florida now is to encompass a law for anti-discrimination that protects people of the LGBT community,” she said. “We only have a couple of counties in Florida that have in-depth laws that clearly say businesses can’t refuse service to a member of the LGBT community.”
Since 2004, Equality Florida, a civil rights organization for the LGBT community, has attempted to pass a statewide bill that would include the LGBT community in anti-discrimination laws. If passed, the Florida Competitive Workforce Act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to chapter 760 of the Florida Statutes. Currently, the chapter only covers anti-discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap and marital status.
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