Same-sex partners of Indiana University employees will no longer be offered same-sex domestic partner healthcare benefits beginning in 2017. The IU Board of Trustees passed a resolution to end the benefits Friday at its regular meeting at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.
"Indiana University has a continuing responsibility to provide a nondiscriminatory benefits program for its employees," reads the resolution.
Since the United States Supreme Court extended marriage to same-sex couples this June, same-sex married couples will be able to enjoy the same healthcare benefits that heterosexual married couples had been receiving. Therefore, the IU domestic partner benefits are no longer needed "as a matter of equity," according to the resolution.
Domestic partners registered before next January can still enroll or continue the coverage until 2017, according to associate vice president of University Human Resources John Whelan.
"Some may say that may seem like a long time," said Whelan, but qualified that fewer than 50 employees have the benefit, and he expects that number to dwindle.
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