Google will cover employees' same-sex tax

Internet magnate Google offers plenty of tempting employee benefits, including free laundry and free food. Beginning Thursday, July 1, the company added another: it's picking up the tab on a tax levied against gay and lesbian employees when their spouses receive domestic partner benefits -- a tax that heterosexual employees don't have to pay.

The corporation began looking into the matter after it was brought to their attention by a gay employee, Laszlo Bock, Google's vice president for people operations told the New York Times.

"We said, 'You're right, that doesn't seem fair,' so we looked into it," Bock said. "From that initial suggestion, we said, let's take a look at all the benefits we offer and see if we are being truly fair across the board."

Google also eliminated the one-year waiting period employees face before qualifying for infertility benefits and included same-sex couples in its family leave policy.

The corporation's policy changes could pave the way for other companies to follow. "It could have a ripple effect, prompting other employers, and particularly employers in the same industry, to take a look at their own benefits package and see whether it would be appropriate to extend those benefits," Kathleen Murray, principal in the health and benefits consulting business in San Francisco for Mercer, the consulting firm, told the NYT. "When you have a high-profile company doing anything, that tends to get into the mind of the culture, and it can have a more diffuse effect."