County checks policies after Supreme Court ruling

LANCASTER – The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages is creating some changes in the human resources policies involving health care at the county level.

During Tuesday’s county commissioner meeting, assistant Fairfield County prosecutor Jason Dolin and human resources director Jeff Porter said some changes in policy would be required to meet the ruling.

The prosecutor’s offices thinks the only thing affected by the ruling is that the county will need to ensure same-sex couples have the same benefits and rights as families recognized as married before, Dolin said.

Porter said his department is working with Franklin County to make sure the language in the human resources policies and applications conform to the court ruling.

“I’ll actually be meeting with health consortium officials next week where we will work on the language,” Porter said. “But it really should be only a couple of minor changes.”

Lancaster’s human resources director, Gretchen Nihiser, said the city had adopted sex-neutral language for its benefits programs long before the Supreme Court ruling was made last week.

Lancaster policies say a covered employee’s spouse is defined in the city as the “person recognized as the covered employee’s husband or wife under the laws of the state where the covered employee lives or was married.”

“We think this covers anyone who might be affected by the court ruling,” Nihiser said. “They only need to bring in a marriage certificate to be covered in the future, like any married couple.”

Porter said his office is reviewing the language in the county’s union contracts and policies and will make any necessary changes within the next few weeks.

Everyone will be covered who wants to be covered, Porter said.

cburnett@lancastereaglegazette.com

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Twitter:@CarlBurnettJr