GOOGLE TO ADD PAY TO COVER TAX ON SAME-SEX BENEFITS
Bock
The company began to look at the disparity after a gay employee pointed it out  said Laszlo Bock  Google's vice president for people operations (also known as human resources). Google  by the way  says its benefits team seriously considers any suggestions on how to expand its coverage.
 "We said  'You're right  that doesn't seem fair ' so we looked into it " Bock said. "From that initial suggestion  we said  let's take a look at all the benefits we offer and see if we are being truly fair across the board."
 As a result  the company also decided to make a few other changes that would help gay employees  including eliminating a one-year waiting period before qualifying for infertility benefits and including domestic partners in its family leave policy -- going beyond the federal Family and Medical Leave Act  which requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks' leave in a one-year period to recover from a medical condition or to care for a relative.
 So what's the cost of Google's largess? Bock declined to provide details but said the decision was less about money and more about equalizing benefits. "If you were to add it all up  it's not like we are talking hundreds of thousands per employee " he said. "It will cost some money  but it was more about doing the right thing."
The company began to look at the disparity after a gay employee pointed it out  said [TGT]. Google  by the way  says its benefits team seriously considers any suggestions on how to expand its coverage.
 "We said  'You're right  that doesn't seem fair ' so we looked into it " [TGT] said. "From that initial suggestion  we said  let's take a look at all the benefits we offer and see if we are being truly fair across the board."
 As a result  the company also decided to make a few other changes that would help gay employees  including eliminating a one-year waiting period before qualifying for infertility benefits and including domestic partners in its family leave policy -- going beyond the federal Family and Medical Leave Act  which requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks' leave in a one-year period to recover from a medical condition or to care for a relative.
 So what's the cost of Google's largess? [TGT] declined to provide details but said the decision was less about money and more about equalizing benefits. "If you were to add it all up  it's not like we are talking hundreds of thousands per employee " [TGT] said. "It will cost some money  but it was more about doing the right thing."