A federal judge has recently refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that FedEx denied benefits to a surviving spouse in a same-sex marriage. “Plaintiff Stacy Schuett and her wife Lesly Taboada-Hall were in a committed relationship for 27 years before they were married in a civil ceremony in Sonoma County on June 19, 2013, the day before Taboada-Hall died of cancer.” Taboada-hall has been a FedEx employee for 26 years and was a fully vested participant in the company’s pension plan. The company had initially denied the claim for qualified preretirement survivor annuity by incorporating DOMA’s definition of marriage. This article discusses the reasoning behind the court’s decision to refuse to dismiss the suit.
See Katherine Proctor, FedEx Must Face Gay Widow’s Benefits Suit, Courthouse News Service, January 6, 2016.
