New City Law: City Contractors Must Equalize Benefits for Greater Family Equality

As stated in our city laws, "The City of Portland has a compelling governmental interest in prohibiting discrimination in programs, activities, services, benefits and employment whether carried out by the City itself or through a contractor with whom the City arranges to carry out its programs and activities."

In April, City Council approved Sam's proposal to add a level of accountability to this policy by enacting an Equal Benefits Ordinance (EBO). The EBO requires that contractors doing work on behalf of the City do all they can to offer equal benefits to their employees with domestic partners and employees with spouses.

What does this mean? If a contractor chooses to do business on behalf of the city and they choose to offer benefits to their employees with spouses, they must extend that offer equally to employees with domestic partners.

Adding domestic partner coverage to benefit policies is relatively simple. However, when we began talking to small businesses about the proposal, many of them responded that while they would love to offer equal benefits, health coverage for domestic partners wasn't widely available for companies their size.

So, in a larger win for equal treatment throughout Oregon, we received commitments from each of the eight largest health insurers in Oregon to add or continue domestic partner coverage for small businesses.

Related Documents

• City Code - Non-Discrimination in Contracting (EBO)
• City Contracting Requirements (including EEO Certification)
• City Code - Equal Opportunity
• City Code - Civil Rights
• Purchasing Bureau - Equal Benefits Program
  

Media Mentions

• "Friends with Benefits," Portland Mercury, March 23
• "Town Hall Debates Equal Benefits," Just Out, April 7
• "City should extend its equal benefits law," The Oregonian Opinion, April 10
• "Benefits measure up for review by council," The Oregonian, April11
• "Extended benefits get tentative pass," The Oregonian, April 13
• "Power of purse buys equality for families," The Oregonian Editorial, April 17
• "The Little Ordinance that Could," The Portland Mercury, April 20

Our blog

• Weighing Equal Benefits
• The Equal Benefits Ordinance
• Town Hall on Equal Benefits
• The City should extend its equal benefits law

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