And the inclusion of opposite-sex unmarried partners is downright rare. The Target Corp., parent of Target stores and Hudson's stores, in March began to offer domestic partner benefits regardless of partner gender to benefit-eligible employees. But a sampling of other large area employers, including the Traverse City Area Public Schools, Northwestern Michigan College and Grand Traverse County showed that all extend health benefits only to the spouses and immediate family of employees. Munson Healthcare, the region's largest employer, with more than 4,000 people on the payroll, has discussed the issue before but it is not active now. Human resources vice president Sue Peters said Munson most recently decided against it two years ago.
Several employers based elsewhere offer same-sex domestic partner benefits.
They include Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, which run programs through Traverse City's University Center. Central Michigan University, which also has a University Center affiliation, offers benefits to the same-sex partners of faculty employees only. At the Record-Eagle, the benefits will be offered only through Priority Health HMO of Grand Rapids. The newspaper allows employees to choose between Priority Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. It's pretty much a customer-driven issue.