FLORIDA: Grocery Giant Publix Expands Spousal Benefits To Same-Sex Couples
Publix has announced that starting on January 1, 2015, they will be expanding benefits to legally married same-sex couples. "Publix is expanding spouse coverage for its health, dental and vision benefits plans to associates who are married in any state where same-sex marriages are legal, regardless of the associates' state of residence. Publix's benefits plans offer coverage to legal spouses, and until recently, the states in which Publix operates did not recognize same-sex marriages as legal unions."Publix is the nation's sixth-largest privately held corporation and the largest such Florida-based company with 167,000 employees at nearly 1100 locations across the southeast. (Tipped by JMG reader Chuck)
RELATED: The company received a "zero" rating in the Human Rights Campaign's 2014 Corporate Equality Index for offering no anti-discrimination protections to LGBT employees. Publix has repeatedly declined to participate in the HRC's annual survey. In September 2012, the Broward County Human Rights Board ordered Publix to pay $100,000 to a bakery employee who alleged that he had been fired for being gay. Complaints by LGBT Publix employees have been a regular feature in Florida's alternative press for the last few years.
Labels: business, employment, Florida, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Publix, retail
