The United States Supreme Court's Ruling on Gay Spouse Benefits
The United States Supreme Court issued its opinion on a Texas decision concerning gay partners. It ruled that gays had no right to government-subsidized employment compensation. The decision was released on December 4th, 2017. The court, however, failed to reverse the Texas Supreme Court's opinion that gay couples were not entitled to government-subsidized compensation at work. The legalization of same-sex marriage was a victory for religious conservatives.
Supreme Court Stand on Texas Ruling on Gay Spouse Benefits
The Texas Supreme Court in June overturned a decision that was made by a lower court which allowed for the gay spouses to have access to workplace benefits. This formed a significant reversal of the high courts of the Republican states that declined to even grant the benefits after the US Supreme Court (Eskridge et al., p275). After some period, the Texas court gave it a try again heard the case after an amounting pressure from the Republican governor, the attorney general, and several other religious leaders. They argued that the case would aid in limiting the scope of the ruling that was made by Court. The case of gay spouse entitlement to workplace benefits began in 2013 with a group of socially conservative and religious groups. According to Gerstmann, (p56), the groups had sued the fourth largest city in America with an aim to block same-sex spouse access to benefits who were municipal employees. This occurred after three of the city employees of Houston, and their spouses filed a petition in a federal court out of fear that certain organization would stop paying gay spouses benefits such retirement benefits. However, it was dismissed by the judge citing that it was very early to hear the case.
Ruling of the Case
The Supreme Court dissented the ruling that was made by the Texas court. It, therefore, allowed for the sex marriage person to have access to the benefits just like other people in the various workplaces.
Rights and Responsibilities
Among the rights and the responsibilities that were denied among the same-sex marriage offer various benefits. Such included;
Employer-provided Healthcare
The employer provided healthcare gives the same-sex marriage the right to access family coverage which is under an employer partnership. They will no longer be paying for higher taxes and premiums (Hopkins et al., p110). The same-sex marriage partners will decide on who to stay at home to take care of a family member or their child without having to be stressed on the healthcare coverage. However, some of the employees will not be able to employ a number of the gay spouse since a lot of expenses will be incurred by them.
Retirement Benefits
The ruling made by the court now allows the same-sex spouses to receive Medicare and social security retirement benefits. Further, they will be able to get the benefits according to employer's pension plan (Klarman p568). Additionally, they will get tax advantages allowing them to pay a considerable amount of tax.
Workers Compensation
In the past few months, some of the states declined to give the same-sex marriage workers compensation benefits who had passed way in the course of the work. However, the ruling made by the US Supreme Court now grants the gay spouses to collect the worker's compensation benefits in case one of their partners dies while at work (Polikoff p135).
Family and Medical Leave
According to Gerstmann, (p56), the family and medical leave grant the same-sex marriage the right to care as is provided for the family members just like their co-workers.
Hospital Access and Medical Decision Making
Based on the ruling that was made by the court, an individual who suffers from any particular injury while on duty, any of the spouses is granted access to the hospital. Apart from that, he/she makes the major medical decisions for the other partner (Klarman p568). The right to hospital access and medical decision making gives the spouses the legal right to make decisions on medical issues without necessarily showing an advance directive from the relevant authorities.
Social Security
According to Hopkins et al., (p110), the same-sex spouses are now granted the right to social security such that when one of them dies, injured or becomes ill, they can access the benefits associated with social security. Various people gave out their opinions on the ruling made by the Supreme Court. For instance, Jared Houston who is a conservative activist applauded the court saying that it was an early Christmas gift. He, therefore, concluded that the Texas Supreme court was apparently right.
Conclusion
In summary, the Supreme Court of the United States of America upheld the case on gay spouses which granted them access to certain benefits. Such benefits revolve around several rights which include the right to workers compensation, social security, and retirement benefits. Other benefits are access to hospitals and the freedom to make medical decisions on behalf of their spouses. Further, they will have the right to employer health provided that grants them access to medical coverage which is offered by the employers.
Works Cited
Eskridge Jr, William N. "Backlash Politics: How Constitutional Litigation Has Advanced Marriage Equality in the United States." BUL rev. 93 (2017): 275. Gerstmann, Evan. Same-sex Marriage and the Constitution. Cambridge University Press, 2017. Hopkins, Jason J., Anna Sorensen, and Verta Taylor. "Same-Sex Couples, Families, and Marriage: Embracing and Resisting Heteronormativity." Sociology Compass 7.2 (2017): 97-110. Klarman, Michael J. From the closet to the altar: Courts, backlash, and the struggle for same-sex marriage. Oxford University Press, 2017. Polikoff, Nancy D. "Two Parts of the Landscape of Family in America: Maintaining Both Spousal and Domestic Partner Employee Benefits for Both Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples." Fordham L. Rev. 81 (2017): 735.
