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Members of a panel on federal domestic partner benefits recently stated that while the federal government has made progress, it still lags behind many private sector companies in providing benefits to domestic partners. The panel convened recently at the Department of Labor to discuss and support domestic partner benefits, which would give federal employees' domestic partners of the same or opposite sex access to health and life insurance and retirement benefits. Spouses of federal employees are already eligible for these benefits. According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, more than 3,500 companies, colleges, universities, and state and local government agencies, along with 102 Fortune 500 companies, currently offer domestic partner health benefits to their employees. Robert Sadler, co-chair of the Department of Labor's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Employees Association (GLOBE), said the federal budget process is the biggest hurdle in gaining domestic partner benefits. "When comparing the private sector with the public sector, the difference is you're dealing with appropriated funds, so we have to wait for an act of Congress," said Sadler. Larry Drake, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees chapter at the Department of Labor, echoed Sadler's views. "It's frustrating because we can't negotiate with the Department of Labor over our pay and similarly we can't negotiate over domestic partner benefits. It has to be a law passed by Congress and signed by the President." Legislation has been introduced in Congress, and several members of Congress have vowed to work for such benefits. |