Domestic-Partners Accord To Cover N.Y.C. Employees

By Karen Diegmueller

Domestic partners of New York City public school employees will be eligible to receive health benefits under a settlement reached late last month between Mayor David N. Dinkins and municipal-employee unions.

The settlement entitles unwed heterosexual or homosexual couples with a worker on the city payroll to the same benefits as their married counterparts.

New York City is by far the largest city to adopt an ordinance recognizing so-called "domestic partnerships.'' About a dozen cities, including San Francisco, Boston, and Seattle, have passed such ordinances, but not all of them offer taxpayer-funded benefits, and only some of those that do offer domestic-partner benefits...