“Gay Gross Ups” Offered by Law Firms Not Nearly As Cool As They Sound
The IRS and the Defense of Marriage Act continue to bilk gay couples by taxing gay spouses as separate individuals rather than as married couples. But a few law firms have thought of a fix so that their gay married employees keep as much income as their straight married employees after taxes. It’s called the “gay gross up” and it consists of “a bump in income such that, post-tax, the employees are in the same position as similarly situated employees electing healthcare benefits for their opposite-sex spouses.”
That’s awesome, though it’s too bad that progressive companies have to float the bill to keep valuable gay employees just so those employees don’t get shafted by the government.
‘Grossing up’ salaries has been done for at least 12 years by some HR departments. The purpose is to make net (after-tax) salaries equivalent for members of opposite and same-sex couples. It’s not necessarily part of a written policy, but part of the negotiation process—typically for VPs and up. (My ex succeded in doing this in 1998 at a large manufacturing company. Other friends working in healthcare/law firms have been successful in including this provision in their contracts, as well.
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This isn’t just law firms. Many companies do this. Some companies in CA rolled this out right after Prop 8 passed.