What is the Civil Partnership Act?

The Civil Partnership Act will come into force as from December 2005. It will allow same-sex couples to form a civil partnership. This will give these “civil partners” equal status to that of married couples. Until now, most same-sex couples have been denied access to the rights and responsibilities that are given to married couples. While existing law renders it unlawful to treat a married person less favourably than an unmarried person, until now there was no legal provision to the contrary.

What does this mean for my company and its clients?

As part of the changes, the relevant employment regulations (which prevent discrimination on the grounds of an individual’s perceived or actual orientation) will also be amended to require that civil partners and spouses should be treated equally.

Employers will no longer be able to prevent or restrict access to benefits by reference to marital status without exposing themselves to the risk of one of their employees taking legal action. For example, many employers have provisions in their contracts that private health care will be available to the employee, the employee’s spouse and his/her children. Provisions to this effect will have to be altered so that the benefit is also made available to employees’ civil partners.

Compliance sounds easy, but be warned – even marriage payments or gifts or the provision of additional holiday for weddings and honeymoons could lead to unlawful discrimination if not extended to all.

The benefits that employees derive from their pension schemes will also have to be examined. A surviving registered civil partner will be entitled to pension benefit provisions similar to those of a surviving spouse.

What about couples that haven’t registered their partnership?

It will still be lawful for employers to confer benefits on married persons and civil partners to the exclusion of all other persons if they choose to do so. So a single homosexual colleague will not be able to argue that it is discrimination to deny him or her access to benefits on the grounds that he or she is not married or a civil partner.

What now?

Although the new rules are not due to come into force until December, you should immediately consider whether it is necessary to amend your existing policies and benefits to ensure that they do not needlessly fall foul of the new regulations. Confer with clients to ensure they’re also aware of their new obligations. Finally, make sure your employees are aware of the new rules and the possible consequences of failing to respect the status of civil partnership.

Contributor: Andrew McConnell, employment solicitor, Dundas & Wilson