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I live in Texas and have a legal Declaration of Informal marriage license, registered at courthouse and legal in Texas. My company is now changing rules on what they accept as a legal spouse; they are based out of RI and do not recognize common law marriages. Does Erisa laws have anything specific about this or any other law help my case?
State/Country relating to Question: Texas Already Tried: I've appealed it to my corporate office in RI. They accept same sex marriages and domestic partnerships as legal spouses to be covered under benefits with only a notarized affidavit.
If you are legally recognized as married in Texas, your company must recognize it too. What legal justification are they giving you for not recognizing common law marriages?
ERISA laws is what they are referencing. They have legal looking into whether or not this should be recognized by my corporation. They're stating a corporation has a right to deny benefits to common law spouses. In my case, even the county courthouse stated it was legal. maybe it's just in texas and by federal recognition? we file our federal taxes together.
I must admit I have never heard of such a rule myself. However, if, for example, state law recognizes common-law marriages as legal, an employer in that state would be required to recognize an employee’s common-law spouse as his or her legal spouse and IRS would recognize the marriage as valid. That is under ERISA. The FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) defines “spouse” as “a husband or wife, as the case may be.” The U.S.Department of Labor’s regulations implementing the FMLA add the following to that statutory definition: “’Spouse’ means a husband or wife as defined or recognized under State law for purposes of marriage in the State where the employee resides.” That means that so long as Texas recognizes you as married, then so must the company. Sincerely, Dimitry Alexander Alexander Kaplun, Esq.
My company merged two years ago and now corporate is out of Rhode Island. While we've been covered as married before the merger, now they're stating the decisions are being based out of the new corporate office in RI (which is home to the company that basically bought us). How would this come into play? I understand Texas company would have to cover, but what about this scenario?
For purposes of employment, since your company does business in Texas, the company would have to comply with Texas rules, regardless of where the home office is. As such the new company must still provide the same benefits that you were entitled to as per Texas law. Sincerely, Dimitry Alexander Kaplun, Esq.
Attorney
JA Mentor, Licensed in PA & NJ, specialize in business/contract disputes, estate creation & admin