8/5/2013 – DOMA decision triggers federal retirement policy changes (Washington Post)

Retired federal employees in same-sex marriages who were unable to provide survivor benefits for their spouses because of the Defense of Marriage Act may now do so but that decision will come at a cost, the Office of Personnel Management has said.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision striking down that law’s definition of marriage for federal benefits purposes as only between a man and a woman means that OPM “is now able to extend benefits to Federal employees and annuitants who are legally married to spouses of the same sex, regardless of the employees’ or annuitants’ states of residency,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice published Friday.

Read the full article at the Washington Post.