News

City rejects employee’s domestic partner grievance

Madison's labor relations department rejected a grievance Tuesday, which was previously filed by a city employee asking for increased partner benefits.

The grievance was filed in January by Scott Matthews, a property appraiser with the city assessor's office. In the grievance, Matthews asked for the city to separate from the state's health care plan, which does not allow cities to give insurance benefits to the domestic partners of its employees.

"The mayor agrees with Scott Matthews," said George Twigg, spokesperson for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. "The issue is we would have to drop out of the state health care system in order to do what the grievance requests, and among other things, that would disrupt health care for many city works, and it would likely cost the city a lot of money."

Twigg also said the grievance was rejected because it was determined to be "not founded."

In a previous interview with The Badger Herald, Matthews said he felt the city's lack of domestic-partner insurance benefits contradicted the mayor's stance on issues such as last November's marriage amendment — something Cieslewicz strongly opposed.

"It's putting a price tag on our equality," Matthews said in the interview.

While the city does not offer insurance to the domestic partners of its employees, it does offer a plan in which they can be reimbursed each month up to the price difference between the cost of a single plan and that of a family plan.

However, as Matthews pointed out, this benefit ends upon the city employee's retirement.

And Twigg said the mayor would like to see the state change its health care plan.

"What Scott wants us to do is drop out of the system, and what we want to do is try to change the system and make it more fair," Twigg said, adding Cieslewicz received a letter from Gov. Jim Doyle Tuesday indicating he would support such a change.

The mayor has supported other resolutions supporting city employees with domestic partners, including the City Council's decision in January to allow alders to include a protest to the new marriage amendment in their oath of office.