Mr Swanson also recognises that many of the pension discrimination problems encountered by lesbians and gays are shared by unmarried couples.
Norris tempers his obvious glee over the Yes vote, and the Catholic hierarchy's discomfort, with a note of caution: "We have to await the legislation and make sure that elements such as pension discrimination and a section of the equality legislation that would allow religious institutions to fire people for being gay are cleared up.
They are currently classed as self-employed independent contractors, or cycling micro-businesses, and therefore lack rights all workers should be able to take for granted: the minimum wage, paid holidays, pensions, protection from discrimination, and trade union rights.
Because women in similar situations had brought lawsuits against other companies, Ameritech went to Federal District Court in Chicago in 1997 seeking a declaration that its use of its old seniority system to calculate eligibility for the new retirement benefits did not violate any of several federal laws dealing with pensions and sex discrimination.
The reputation of Brazil's capital markets could be "seriously damaged" by the deal, warned the investment director of Previ, a big pension fund.The risk of discrimination is built into Brazil's stockmarket law, which resembles Italy's more than America's or Britain's.
In late 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission jumped in on the agents' side, filing its own suit charging that Allstate violated federal pension and age-discrimination laws when it forced the agents to sign away their benefits and promise not to sue in order to keep working.
Her research there spanned finance, social policy, human resource management and marketing, and she carried out studies on pensions and ethnic minorities, age discrimination, and the impact of the gender pay gap on post-retirement earnings.
There may be laws against discrimination, but as pensions minister Ros Altmann warned in a report last year, the recruitment industry still needs to raise its standards to ensure compliance with the law.
After the war they faced discrimination, lost their pensions and were barred from holding jobs paid for by the state.
In AT&T v. Hulteen, No. 07-543, the court will consider whether failing to give credit for pregnancy leaves in pension calculations amounts to employment discrimination.
