Lambda Legal Negotiates Settlement on Behalf of Gay Couple That Was Forced To Live Apart Because Of Discriminatory Policy, UPS Changes "Trailing Spouse" Benefit

(San Francisco, February 18, 2004) - Lambda Legal announced a settlement today between United Parcel Service and a gay couple who were forced to live apart for nine months because same-sex couples did not qualify for UPS’s “trailing spouse” policy, which allowed employees to relocate to another office when their spouse’s job forced a move. The lawsuit, filed in California state court last year by Lambda Legal on behalf of the couple, was dismissed today after the disputes between the parties were satisfactorily resolved.

In August 2003, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit against UPS on behalf of Daniel Kline, who has worked for the company for more than two decades, and his partner of 27 years, Frank Sories. In January 2003, Sories was transferred from San Francisco to Chicago by his employer, United Airlines, when its office in San Francisco closed. Kline applied for a transfer to UPS’s Chicago branch under the company’s “trailing spouse” policy to follow his life partner to Chicago. The corporation rejected Kline’s transfer because the men are gay and therefore were not able to marry each other under California law at that time. After Kline's request had been denied, UPS decided to provide the same job relocation benefits to employees in domestic partnerships as it does to its married employees.

“Today's settlement tells employers across the country that they must give all their employees equal access to benefits. By limiting benefits to only married couples, UPS was discriminating against its employees who couldn’t marry their partners," said Jon Davidson, Senior Counsel for Lambda Legal in its Western Regional Office in Los Angeles. “The initial policy was designed to keep families intact, but it did not address the needs of all families. We are confident that, with the new policy in place, no one working at UPS will be denied these benefits because they are barred from marriage.”

Just hours after the lawsuit was filed last year, UPS released a statement saying it has changed its policy to include domestic partners and that Kline’s transfer application had been approved. That policy had never been made available to its employees, and Kline and Sories were forced to continue living 2,000 miles apart. In the days immediately after the filing, several hundred Lambda Legal members signed onto written petitions urging UPS to change its policy and treat its lesbian and gay employees equally.

“After 27 years together, we were unexpectedly and needlessly separated. Today is a great day for us. We can finally put our forced separation behind us and look to the future together, side by side,” said Kline and Sories.

Davidson is Lambda Legal’s attorney on the case. Davidson worked with co-counsel Alexander van Broek of Oakland, Calif.

### Contact: Fred Shank, 212/809-8585, x267