Harvard Adopts New Tax Policy for Married BGLTQ Couples

Harvard will pay $1,500 to University employees who have extended health insurance coverage to their same-sex spouses under the University family medical plan in an attempt to compensate for additional taxes that these employees must pay that their heterosexual colleagues do not.

The announcement of the “tax equalization payment” came on April 15, also known as Tax Day, and will become effective this month.

Rita Moore, the director of benefits and human resources systems for Harvard Human Resources, told the Gazette that the new policy is designed to ensure that health benefits comply with the University’s nondiscrimination policy.

“The unequal tax treatment of health benefits under federal law has been troubling to many LGBT employees at Harvard as a matter of equity with other families,” Moore said.

She added that the new policy is consistent with similar moves by other major employers, such as the city of Cambridge.

Charles J. Curti, director of human resources at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, told the Gazette that the University has been contemplating the policy change since last August.

The discrepancy in tax payments between same-sex and heterosexual spouses stems from the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which dictates that the federal government would not recognize same-sex marriages or unions.

In addition to married couples within Massachusetts and the other eight states that recognize same-sex marriage, employees in same-sex domestic partnerships who do not reside in those parts of the country may also receive the payment.

Assistant Dean of Student Life Emelyn dela Pena, who oversees BGLTQ student life, told The Crimson in an email that she was not surprised by the University’s announcement, given Harvard’s other “inclusive policies and practices” intended to “affirm its diverse community.”

“There are many ways Harvard treats its LGBT employees with dignity and respect, from offering benefits for same-sex domestic partners to covering top and bottom surgery for transgender employees,” she said.

Additionally, following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004, Harvard chose to continue to provide health benefits for cohabiting same-sex couples, while many other employers declined to do so.

Arthur Patton-Hock, the administrative director of both the American Civilization/American Studies Program and the Charles Warren Center who has worked at Harvard for more than 25 years, told the Gazette that he appreciated the message that Harvard valued his husband and two sons as much as other employees and their families.

“Harvard’s been a wonderful employer to me,” Patton-Hock said. “It’s only at the moment of benefits-election time or tax-preparation time that the inequity rankles.”

—Staff writer Nikita Kansra can be reached at nikitakansra@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @NikitaKansra.

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @syweinstock.