More on benefits for gay couples

IOWA CITY - An important point was left out of the newspaper and online versions of Sunday's story on domestic partner health benefits.

The story, which you can read here, covered how, in light of Iowa now allowing same-sex marriage, the city of Iowa City and Johnson County are addressing their policies of extending health coverage to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees.

The reason being that those couples can now marry.

But employees who don't want to get married still have another option if they want to share their benefit plans with their partner – they can enter into a common-law marriage as allowed by Iowa law.

This is a more legally binding relationship than a domestic partnership. For example, couples that split up must go through the court system and get what is essentially a divorce, something not required of those in domestic partnerships.

Also, the story details how I could not find other employers confronting this situation. Among the several organizations I called was the Northeast Human Resources Association. It covers New England, where Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont allow same-sex marriages. Next year, New Hampshire will become the fifth state in the nation to do so.

Even that organization didn't have any information.

As mentioned in the story, Iowa City's Karen Jennings could not find another public employer in Iowa dealing with this.

I asked Jane Pauba Dodge, president of the Iowa Public Employer Labor Relations Association and human resources manager for the city of West Des Moines. She said she could not speak for all members but guessed that most do not have domestic partnerships.