The University of Arkansas System has opened a 31-day benefits program enrollment period for same-sex spouses, implementing a policy 13 months in the making after Friday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
The special enrollment period started Friday, allowing existing employees with same-sex spouses to enroll immediately instead of waiting for the next enrollment period.
The UA System employs about 35,000 people, but spokesman Nate Hinkel said there wasn't a realistic way of estimating how many of them are affected by the system's decision.
System leaders tried to include same-sex spouses in the system's health insurance in May 2014 after a Pulaski County judge's ruling allowed for same-sex marriages in Arkansas. System officials temporarily stopped that effort after the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a stay on the ruling.
That changed Friday.
"At this point, we were just waiting for that decision to come down so we could offer it," Hinkel said.
Whether public agencies or private companies will have to offer benefits to same-sex spouses has been a legal gray area since the ruling, with some arguing it will be required and others arguing it won't be. Federal and many state laws do not explicitly protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Some major companies in Arkansas already have anti-discrimination policies and provide equal benefits for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, including Wal-Mart, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last week. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer and biggest employer, began extending benefits to same-sex couples in 2014.
No announcements have been made about extending benefits to same-sex spouses employed in state government.
The UA System and others view the Supreme Court ruling Friday as a determination that they are legally required to extend benefits to same-sex spouses.
The Arkansas State University System and the University of Central Arkansas also intend to extend benefits programs to same-sex spouses, but they have not finalized when enrollment will begin with third-party insurers.
"It's the law," Arkansas State University System spokesman Jeff Hankins said. "We're following the law of the land."
Graham Gillis, associate vice president of human resources and risk management at UCA, said in a statement: "Unlike the University of Arkansas, which has a self-insured health insurance plan, the University of Central Arkansas has a fully-insured health insurance plan through United Healthcare.
"We are awaiting official communication from United Healthcare regarding open enrollment that is related to the Supreme Court ruling. Once we receive that official notification, our employees will be notified."
The Arkansas State University System is self-insured like the UA System, Hankins said, but the system still will have to work out opening enrollment with its benefits providers.
"We are actively working on working with our benefits providers to accommodate same-sex couples," he said.
Mike Emery, who works in the strategic communications office at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said he doesn't know whether he and his husband, fellow UA-Fayetteville employee Todd Walters, will take advantage of the enrollment.
Emery and Walters, who married in May 2014, both receive health insurance from the university. But Emery's additional medical benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs might make it easier for them to stay on individual plans.
Emery said he is glad he and Walters have the option to enroll together.
"It's great. Part of the whole fight was little things like that," he said, referring to benefits that only heterosexual spouses were able to receive previously.
Metro on 06/30/2015