Employee Benefits & Policies

This criteria is designed to familiarize a community with best practices, from The Joint Commission and other sources, to promote equity and inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees.

Reviewing the practices implemented by other communities and recommended by experts, an organization can identify and address gaps in their policies and practices. An organization’s LGBTQ+ employees play a vital role in ensuring LGBTQ+ resident-centered care by informally educating their co-workers about patient concerns, offering feedback about organizational policies and practices, and conveying to the local community their organization’s commitment to equity and inclusion.

It is critical that LGBTQ+ employees, like LGBTQ+ residents, receive equal treatment, particularly vis-à-vis health-related benefits and policies. Competitive employer-provided benefits’ packages are critical to attracting and retaining talent.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload 2022 health insurance coverage summary plan documentation with the eligibility and definitions section(s) that define who is eligible for benefits}
-Provide coverage for unmarried domestic partners

Resources:
Learn more about why HRC strongly recommends continued provision of domestic partner benefits. See this piece from the Healthcare Equality Index 2017 for more information.

More Information:

• Visit the HEI page on FMLA-Equivalent Benefit for LGBTQ+ Workers to learn more about how these benefits affect LGBTQ employees
• View our 2018 US LGBTQ+ Paid Leave Survey report which reveals an urgent need for inclusive employer-paid family and medical leave
• See the Movement Advancement Project's Equality Map on Family Leave Laws to learn about the laws in your state

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload a copy of a family and medical leave (FMLA)-equivalent policy that provides unpaid, job-protected leave
-Include a policy with the ability to care for domestic partners as well as the children of a domestic partner, regardless of biological or adoptive status

More Information:

• Visit the HEI page on FMLA-Equivalent Benefit for LGBTQ+ Workers to learn more about how these benefits affect LGBTQ employees
• View our 2018 US LGBTQ+ Paid Leave Survey report which reveals an urgent need for inclusive employer-paid family and medical leave
• See the Movement Advancement Project's Equality Map on Family Leave Laws to learn about the laws in your state

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload a copy of a family and medical leave (FMLA) policy
-Include a policy with the ability to take off to care for same-sex unmarried partners/domestic partners, the children of domestic partner, and parental leave policies that do not exclude non-birth parents and do not discriminate in access to benefits based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and marital status
-Include protected and paid time off

Example:
An inclusive FMLA policy from Woodland Pond.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload a copy of your bereavement policy

Example:
Inclusive bereavement leave policy from Woodland Pond.

Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital includes domestic partners as family members that employees may take bereavement leave for.

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute provides bereavement leave for employees in the event of a the death of their domestic partner.

As an organization you can provide health coverage for transgender individuals available in at least one firm-wide available plan without exclusion for medically necessary care that meets the following baseline criteria:

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:

-Have basic coverage that includes:

o Mental health benefits

o Pharmaceutical coverage (hormone replacement therapies, puberty blockers for youth)

o Coverage for medical visits or lab services

o Coverage for reconstructive surgical procedures related to gender reassignment (including reconstructive chest, breast, and genital procedures and related medically necessary procedures such as hair removal prior to genital procedures and revisions)

o Short-term medical leave

-Have No exclusions -the plan may not exclude any covered dependents from your coverage, including children AND no exclusion on "reversals."

This is an unnecessary exclusion since most gender-affirming surgeries are not reversible, however, this language has often been used to limit access to necessary revisions. NOTE: we are not asking for coverage of reversals just removal of exclusionary language.

-Upload 3 different documents

• The Summary Plan Documentation (or summary material modification documentation)

• A Summary of Benefits and Coverage (employee-facing document shared with all employees both prior to selecting and after enrolled in the plan that explicitly indicates that coverage is available)

• Clinical Plan Bulletin that affirms coverage with no exclusions

Example:
See page 22 of the City of New York's Summary Plan Document. This SPD clearly indicates how psychotherapy, hormone therapy, and gender affirmation surgeries are covered under all of the health plans offered by the city.

Look at various examples of transgender health-related Clinical or Medical Plan Bulletins

Resources:

We encourage you to review HRC’s Trans Toolkit for Employers for a wide range of resources and best practices for employer transgender inclusion. The Toolkit includes HRC’s best practice advice for implementing transgender-inclusive policies (including sample policies) and practices as well as guidance for implementing transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits.

Read HRC’s White Paper on Transgender-Inclusive Health Care Coverage and the Corporate Equality Index.

LGBTQ+ employees sometimes face additional harassment from co-workers and supervisors based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Including protections for LGBTQ+ employees in the anti-harassment policy strengthens protections for them.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload a copy of the anti-harassment policy
-Policy must include the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” (or “gender identity”)

It is often said that when a person transitions gender, everyone around them transitions along with them. In other words, a workplace transition involves change not only for the employee but also for their manager, colleagues and clients.

Business leaders know the importance of proper planning, communication and training in implementing successful organizational change. A successful gender transition is no different. A little planning can go a long way to ensuring a successful outcome for all involved — the transitioning employee, managers, colleagues and clients/customers.

Gender transition guidelines, a written set of guidelines to manage an on-the-job gender transition, outline protocols for gender transitions that clearly delineate responsibilities and expectations of transitioning employees, their supervisors, colleagues and other staff.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
- Upload a copy of the gender transition guidelines for employees
-Include at least 3 policies/practices (e.g. guidance on restroom access, dress code, internal recordkeeping, name usage, etc.) (see resources for examples and guidance)

Resources:
Review HRC’s Template for Gender Transition Guidelines for best practices for transitioning employees, managers and HR representatives and more.

See our page on workplace gender transition guidelines to learn more about organizational protocols for gender transitions that should include guidance on restroom and facilities access, dress code and internal recordkeeping that fully recognize an employee's full-time gender presentation and maximize privacy for the employee.

Review HRC’s Sample Restroom Policy to better accommodate transgender employees.

See the Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration which addresses why restroom access is a health and safety matter.

Examples:
Watermark Retirement Communities has a policy titled "Gender Transition and an Inclusive Workplace"

The Gender In the Workplace Committee at Givens Communities created a guide for supervisors focused on supporting transitioning team members.

See our page on self-identification of LGBTQ+ employees to learn more about asking these questions and why anonymity is so important to employees who disclose their LGBTQ status.

See the Corporate Equality Index's document on collecting SOGI data from employees.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-upload a copy of the survey and/or the results demonstrating the inclusion of LGBTQ+ demographic measures.

Example:
Employee climate survey from Woodland Pond at New Paltz

Some example questions for this survey might be (but are not limited to):

• Does this organization value differences in age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and race or ethnicity? Measure level of agreement and rating scale.
• Are diverse people (differences in race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity etc.) treated fairly at this organization?
• Do all staff members have an equal opportunity for promotion regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnic background, national origin, or disability?
• Have you personally witnessed or experienced discriminating behavior at work, on the basis of some diversity-related characteristic in the past twelve months?
• Identify the type of discrimination that occurred, including sexual orientation and gender identity as an option.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload a copy of the survey and/or the results demonstrating the inclusion of LGBTQ+ specific questions

Example:
Employee climate survey from Woodland Pond at New Paltz

Demonstrate how hiring efforts are proactively LGBTQ+ inclusive. Simply having an employment non-discrimination statement that includes “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” posted on job descriptions or career website does not count for this criterion, however, it does count for publicly communicating you employment non-discrimination policy.

Resources:
Organizations can target potential LGBTQ+ employees in a variety of ways:

• Job postings are sent to LGBTQ+ organizations and/or print/online LGBTQ+ publications
• For more information on LGBTQ+ inclusive hiring and recruitment, visit our webpage detailing LGBTQ+ recruitment and LGBTQ+ specific job sites

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Describe how hiring efforts are proactively LGBTQ+ inclusive and upload any related materials
-Provide some specific details (names of job sites, flyer, etc.)

Note: We are looking for a senior/executive-level administrator at your organization.

The presence of visible LGBTQ+ employees in management communicates to the LGBTQ+ employees of your company that their company is open and accepting and enables LGBTQ+ employees to be open at work, which in turn improves their engagement and retention.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Provide the name of the person and their position. This must be a senior/executive-level administrator at your organization.

A diversity and inclusion office can be a driving force in your journey towards diversity and inclusivity of staff. A diverse staff better reflects the diversifying aging population seeking housing. Formalizing a community's efforts can better affirm and meet the needs of residents including LGBTQ+ elders.

To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Either provide a link to a website describing the work of this office or council or upload a document demonstrating that LGBTQ+ diversity is part of its mission