The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) unanimously approved (9-0) to extend domestic-partner benefits to its employees.
The decision was made during an April 19 commissioner board meeting. ‘I am so pleased that the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has joined other leading governmental agencies in extending health benefits to domestic partners of employees and to the domestic partners of heterosexual employees, as well,’ Comm. Debra Shore told Windy City Times. ‘This is clearly a matter of fairness and equity, but it’s also increasingly important in our ability to attract and retain the highly educated and skilled people on which the MWRD so deeply depends.’
Shore made history last year when she became the first out lesbian elected to a non-judicial office in Cook County.
The MWRD is an agency charged with preserving and enhancing the area’s water systems.
Other area governmental agencies have also extended benefits to same-sex partners. In 2006, Gov. Rod Blagojevich extended domestic-partner benefits to all state workers and, in 1997, the City of Chicago provided the same to city workers.