Update
Newsletter
Supreme Court Review of Same-Sex Marriage Cases Could Require Significant Changes to Employee Benefits
by Nancy K. Campbell and Kevin J. Hogan
In our 2012 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists, we indicated that there was a strong possibility that the Supreme Court would grant certiorari this term in a series of cases challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”). On December 7, 2012, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a DOMA case as well as the California Proposition 8 (“Prop 8”) same-sex marriage ban case. Oral arguments for these cases have been scheduled for late March of 2013 with a decision expected in late June of 2013. Any Supreme Court decision will likely take effect immediately, leaving employers to scramble if they have not previously given thought to how a decision overturning Section 3 of DOMA might impact their employee benefits.