NYC Equal Benefits Law Struck Down by NY High Court

Update: Ross' Employment Law Blog has more analysis of this decision, with the additional information that the court also found the NYC law preempted by ERISA.

365Gay.com is reporting that the New York Court of Appeals (the highest state court in NY) has found New York City's Equal Benefit Law invalid.

From the story:

The law would have required contractors that do more than $100,000 of business each year with NYC to offer benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian workers equal to those the companies give heterosexually married couples.

The legislation would have made health coverage available to tens of thousands of additional people in the New York City region and because many companies which do business with New York are national corporations it could also provide same-sex benefits to hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

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An appeals court overturned that ruling, saying the city statute conflicted with competitive bidding requirements in state law and was invalid.

Tuesday, in a 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals upheld the appeals court, saying state and federal laws took precedence over the city law.

PS