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| Benefits eligibility and coverage will be extended to same sex and opposite sex domestic partners of our faculty and staff. Benefits for domestic partners will be administered in the same manner, as possible, to the benefits for legally married couples. The following details the procedure and eligibility criteria for enrollment of domestic partners under the University's benefit programs. To establish the eligibility for University benefits of a same sex or opposite sex domestic partner an affidavit, titled "Statement of Domestic Partnership," along with other evidence of relationship (e.g. lease,utility bills etc.) must be completed by the employee and domestic partner. Copies of this affidavit, which is similar to those being used at other universities such as Columbia, NYU and CUNY for domestic partner registration, are available from Human Resources/Benefits. Once the "Statement of Domestic Partnership" is completed and approved, the employee’s domestic partner and the partner’s natural or legally adopted children become eligible to apply for University benefits. As a full-time employee, you may elect to add a domestic partner and/or dependent children of a domestic partner under the "employee plus one" or "family" coverage options in the PHS POS Plan or in an HMO that enrolls domestic partners. You may also add them to either of the Aetna dental plans. If you are participating in an HMO that does not cover domestic partners, you may switch to another plan in order to effect coverage. Employee contributions will be the same as they are for employees covering spouses and dependent children. Please note that, an employee, may register a domestic partner at any time. Once that registration takes place he/she must enroll the domestic partner and the domestic partner’s dependent children in medical and/or dental plans within 31 days of registration. If you wait longer you may need to wait until the annual open enrollment period before making changes. Please see Qualifying Events for other benefit enrollment considerations outside the open enrollment period. The same eligibility rules that apply to all employees’ spouses and children will apply to registered domestic partners and their natural and adopted children. Application for on-campus staff scholarship or off-campus tuition remission benefits may be made as soon as the "Statement of Domestic Partnership" is completed and approved for benefit coverage. Employees who are not married may name anyone as a beneficiary on group life insurance or annuity accumulations. It is not necessary to register a domestic partner to name that person as beneficiary. Employees who retire and who, according to policy, have sufficient age and years of service to retain medical insurance in retirement, may also retain medical insurance coverage for a registered domestic partner, in the same manner that such coverage is made available to spouses of retiring employees. Pace University policy language regarding leaves of absence to care for newborn and/or adopted children or ill family members, or for purposes of death in family will be extended to include domestic partners and children of domestic partners. The Internal Revenue Code does not recognize the tax exemption of benefits extended to domestic partners, as such, there will be certain tax consequences to the employee who enrolls a domestic partner. An employee’s contributions for additional medical and/or dental coverage of a domestic partner and that person’s dependent children will be deducted from pay on an after-tax basis. In the case of tuition remission for domestic partners and their children, the value of the tuition will be treated as "imputed" or direct income to the employee, as well, and taxes will be withheld based on that additional income For further information on eligibility requirements or assistance in answering any questions you may have regarding the University’s policy on domestic partnerships, please contact your Campus Human Resources Office.
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