Domestic Partnership Benefits & Family Partner Benefits
Due to a State legislative change, the City of Madison is no longer allowed to offer health insurance, dental insurance, or life insurance benefits to its employees' domestic partners beyond December 31, 2017. As of September 22, 2017, the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) no longer accepts Affidavits of Domestic Partnership.
Domestic Partner Health Insurance
Effective January 1, 2018, State law no longer allows local governmental employers, such as the City of Madison, to offer health insurance benefits to domestic partners of their employees. However, certain employees may be eligible for a (taxable) stipend to offset the cost of their domestic partner obtaining health insurance outside of the City's group health insurance program, subject to Madison General Ordinance 3.54(25)(b) or the prevailing Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Please note that one of the requirements for the stipend program is that your partner does not have access to any employer-sponsored health insurance program (i.e., where the employer would pay at least 50% of the total monthly premium). All program requirements are outlined in the Certification form(s) linked below.
Please refer to your employee group's Collective Bargaining Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, or Employee Benefits Handbook for more information, and reach out to the Benefits Team at benefits@cityofmadison.com or (608) 266-4615 with any questions.
Stipend Program Forms:
- Domestic Partner Health Insurance Premium Stipend/Reimbursement Request Form
- Certification of Domestic Partnership for Health Insurance Premium Stipend - General Municipal, Non-Represented, and Teamsters Local 695 employees
- Certification of Domestic Partnership for Health Insurance Premium Reimbursement - Association of Madison Fire Supervisors (AMFS), Association of Madison Police Supervisors (AMPS), IAFF Local 311, and Madison Professional Police Officers Association (MPPOA) employees
- Termination of Domestic Partnership for Health Insurance Premium Stipend/Reimbursement Form
Family Partner Designations
An employee may wish to designate their partner as a "family partner." Family Partnership benefits are defined by APM 2-14, Procedures for Designation of a Family Partner. By designating a family partner, an employee can use sick leave and bereavement leave for their partner's illness or injury, or for the illness/injury of eligible members of their partner's family.
In order to declare a family partner relationship with the City, an employee must fill out a Family Partner Designation Form and submit it to Human Resources. Once the designation has been reviewed and approved, the effective date will backdate to the date the form was received in HR.
- Note: If you and your partner are both City employees, you must each designate the other person as your family partner in order to use sick leave/bereavement leave for each other.
Leave Benefits Available to Domestic and/or Family Partners
| Sick Leave | Employees are allowed to use sick leave to take care of a domestic partner and/or designated family partner, and eligible members of the partner’s family. |
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| Bereavement Leave | Employees receive up to 3 days without loss of pay in the case of death of a domestic partner and/or designated family partner, and eligible members of the partner’s family. |
| FMLA | Employees can request up to 2 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a domestic partner or parent of a domestic partner.
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More Information
For more information, see the Employee Benefits Handbook.