ALBANY (AP) -- New York businesses would have to extend funeral and bereavement leave to unmarried same-sex couples under a bill passed by the Legislature and awaiting Gov. David Paterson's signature.
The bill, which passed the Assembly 107-26 this month and the Senate by voice vote on Monday, prohibits discrimination by employers in the state who provide such leave to other workers and would take effect 60 days after signing.
Paterson has been a strong advocate of gay rights, including same-sex marriage; he will review the bill when it reaches his desk, spokesman Morgan Hook said Tuesday.
Same-sex couples who get legally married in Massachusetts, Canada and some other places are entitled to government benefits like married couples under New York law.
But sponsors of the bill said bereavement leave also should be available to same-sex couples who haven't left the state to marry but are in "a committed relationship," defined as "a long-term relationship characterized by emotional and financial commitment and interdependence."
"Enlightened companies with domestic partnership policies now allow this type of funeral or bereavement leave," said a memo by the sponsors, including Assembly member Deborah Glick, a Manhattan Democrat.
Similar bills have been introduced since 1998.
In December, legislation that would have allowed gay marriage in New York was defeated in the Senate after having passed in the Assembly. Marriage between same-sex couples is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire.
New York has several laws, executive orders and court decisions that grant many rights long enjoyed by married couples to gay couples.
A budget measure proposed this week by Democrats who have majorities in the Assembly and Senate would have allowed gay couples legally married in other states to file as married couples for tax purposes in New York.
That measure, though, faced objection from Sen. Ruben Diaz, a Bronx Democrat and minister, and Democrats needed all of their 32 members to pass budget bills. The measure was dropped.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
