Aon Survey: HR and Benefit Managers React to Massachusetts Gay Marriages.

CHICAGO -- Survey Finds 33 Percent of U.S. Businesses Are Prepared to Extend Health Benefits to Same-Gender Spouses of Employees

With the recent decision by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to legally recognize gay marriage, companies throughout the US are still struggling to determine the impact to their own operations. However, according to a recent Aon Consulting survey of human resource managers, 33 percent of respondents said that "if an employee requested that a health benefit plan recognize a same-gender spouse," their organization would honor the request.

Yet, when asked the same question of qualified retirement plans, only 15 percent of companies intend to honor the same request.

"When considering the impact of the same-gender marriage decision in Massachusetts, the largest factor that seems to drive behavior for employers is how these plans are treated by the Internal Revenue Code," notes Paul Sullivan, an assistant vice president with Aon Consulting's Research & Technical Services (RTS) group in Newburyport, Mass. "Federally qualified retirement plans apparently do not want to run the risk of losing their 'qualified' status, and this is a distinct possibility if these plans recognize same-gender spouses in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act."

Aon received responses from 216 companies that anonymously completed the survey during the past two weeks. Thirty percent of responding companies had 500 or fewer employees, and 14 percent were from companies with more than 10,000 employees.

The biggest issue may be the question surrounding the word "spouse" - and this is where HR leaders seem to be struggling the most. Among the survey respondents, 51 percent have not reviewed their benefit plans "to determine whether the term 'spouse' could include a same-gender spouse."

Complete survey results are available by visiting Aon's web page, http://www.aon.com/hrsurvey.

About Aon

Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. The company employs approximately 53,000 professionals in its 600 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.

Aon Consulting is among the top global human resources consulting firms, with 2003 revenues of $1.193 billion and 7,500 professionals in 140 offices throughout the world. Aon Consulting delivers integrated consulting solutions to help clients with employee benefits, human resources outsourcing, compensation, communication and management consulting.

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