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Telstra has joined a growing number of employers that are committed to recognising the same-sex marriages of their employees.
The telecommunications giant this week added its name to Australian Marriage Equality (AME)’s website, which is compiling a list of companies that are supportive of gay marriage.
In a letter sent to AME, seen by SX, Stephen Barrow, Executive Director – Human Resources, said Telstra values diversity among its employees. “In 2007 we reviewed our policies and found 171 instances of inconsistent or non-inclusive language being used when describing our employees’ personal relationships … we have updated our policies to now refer to employees and their partners.”
Partners are defined as two people living together as a couple on a “genuine domestic basis, irrespective of gender”, Barrow added. “In the case of a person who is married or in a registered civil union, we would therefore recognise such a person as a partner, for the purposes of our policies ... we would be very pleased to be included on AME’s list of employers who recognise diversity of relationships among our employees.”
AME’s National Convenor Peter Furness said every employer deals with relationships differently and praised Telstra’s move. “Some [companies] don’t acknowledge any kind of system and just deal with ‘employees’,” he told SX. “Telstra’s basically decided to recognise any kind of relationship, calling all of them ‘partners’. They had an issue because some employees had entered UK civil unions. The point for us is that they’re happy to be included.”
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