TEL AVIV - Same-sex partners are entitled to the same National Insurance survivor benefits as married couples, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said in an opinion submitted to the Tel Aviv Labor Court.
The opinion came as part of a claim by Tel Aviv resident Giora Raz, who is suing the National Insurance Institute for benefits following the death of his long-time partner Yaakov Lisboder.
Raz claims the Institute refused to pay him survivor benefits after the death of Lisboder, his partner of 23 years. Prior to his death from cancer two years ago, Lisboder was the couples’ primary breadwinner.
Raz, who also receives an elderly stipend from the Insurance Institute, is not employed and has no income.
Several months after Lisboder’s death, Raz submitted a claim for survivor benefits, but the claim was rejected on grounds that a widower is defined as “the husband of a woman at the time of her death.”
Irrelevant
However, Danny Yakir, legal counsel for the Association for Civil Rights said survivor benefits are routinely paid to de-facto relationships, in addition to marriages.
In rejecting the claim, the National Insurance Institute discriminated against Raz and Lisboder, he said.
In the opinion submitted by Mazuz to the regional labor court, he said that, legally, “homosexual couples who meet the stated requirements… qualify for survivor benefits.”
“We believe the difference between same sex couples who fulfill the aforementioned criteria, and married heterosexual couples and common-law partners, is not a relevant difference for the purpose of determining the right to survivor benefits,” he said.
RSS
