Tyma v. Montgomery County6/14/2002
The question this case presents is whether Montgomery County, Maryland, ("the appellee" or "the County"), exceeded its authority under, or otherwise contravened, State and federal law by enacting an ordinance that extends employment benefits to the domestic partners of county employees. The trial court, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, concluded that the Montgomery County Council had authority under the Maryland Constitution and laws to enact such benefits legislation and further, that the ordinance was a local law that did not conflict with, and, therefore, was not preempted by, State or federal law. We agree. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment of the trial court.
I.
On November, 30 1999, the Montgomery County Council (the "Council") enacted and the County Executive signed, Montgomery County Bill No. 29-99, the "Employee Benefits Equity Act of 1999 (the "Act")." Generally, the Act, which became effective March 3, 2000 and applies to all active and retired County employees, extends benefits, such as health, leave, and survivor benefits comparable to those afforded the spouses of County employees, to the domestic partners of County employees. In enacting the ordinance, the Council noted the County's "longstanding policy, in law and practice, against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation," as well as its belief that "it is unfair to treat employees differently based solely on whether the employee's partner is legally recognized as a spouse." See § 33-22(a). In addition, the Council found that "many private and public employers provide or plan to provide benefits for the domestic partners of their employees" and that " roviding domestic partner benefits will significantly enhance the County's ability to recruit and retain highly qualified employees and will promote employee loyalty and workplace diversity." Id.
The Act amended the definitions of "immediate family" and "relative" in Chapter 19A, Ethics, of the County Code, expanding them to include domestic partners, see id. at §§ 19A-4(i) and (n), thus, extending to domestic partners "benefits equivalent to those available for an employee's spouse or spouse's dependent," including those benefits available "under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 ("COBRA"), the federal Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), and other federal laws that apply to County employment benefits." Id. at § 33-22(b). To qualify as a domestic partner for purposes of the Act, the County employee and his or her partner must satisfy all of a number of specific requirements or, in the event a domestic partnership registration system exists in the jurisdiction in which the employee resides and the County's Director of Human Resources determines that the legal requirements for registration are substantially similar, legally register the domestic partnership. See §33-22(c). A domestic partnership terminates, § 33-22(e) instructs, by the death of a partner or its dissolution, see subsection (e)(1), or the occurrence of "any other change in circumstances that disqualifies the relationship as a domestic partnership," see subsection (e)(2), either of which the employee is required to notify the County of within 30 days.
The appellants, employees and residents of Montgomery County, filed an action in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, in which they requested the court to enter a declaratory judgment that the Act is invalid and an order enjoining its implementation. In their complaint, the appellants alleged, as they would later argue, that the Act exceeded the County's authority to enact local laws, conflicted with State law, was preempted by federal law, and was unconstitutionally vague. The Ci
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