Barclays Banks On Gay Employees: Will Start Paying America’s Discriminatory Tax Penalty

Business must be good for Barclays bank, the British financial giant that snapped up Lehman Brothers in 2008, because it’s found the cash to offset the tax penalty American employees must pay for benefits provided to same-sex partners. Barclays will begin picking up the tab (estimated around $1,000 per employee) on Jan. 1, joining a growing crop of companies that already includes Google and Cisco Systems.