A man whose husband worked for KRON4 is suing the San Francisco TV station for spousal benefits he says he's entitled to after his husband's death.
David Reed, 47, filed his lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Reed and Donald Lee Gardner, who was KRON4's technical director for over 30 years, became registered domestic partners in 2004. Gardner retired in 2009, and the couple married in 2014, only five days before Gardner died of a rare blood disease. He was 64.
After Gardner died, Reed sought a spousal survivor benefit under KRON4's pension plan, which incorporates California law mandating that registered domestic partners have the same rights as married couples. However, Reed's request has been rejected.
"I was devastated by KRON4's refusal to recognize our relationship and to pay the benefits that Donald earned during his long service to KRON4 in order to protect our family," Reed said in a news release from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which along with Renaker Hasselman LLP is representing him.
Along with KRON4, Young Broadcasting of San Francisco and the KRON/IBEW Local 45 Pension Plan are also defendants in the case. None of them immediately responded to requests for comment.
According to Reed's complaint, Gardner had chosen a single-life annuity on his pension election form, "which was listed ... as available to participants 'If not married.'" The documents say since Gardner wasn't "provided with a written explanation of his right to a joint-and-survivor annuity and Mr. Reed did not consent to his election of a single-life annuity," that choice "is invalid."
In a phone interview, Reed, who now lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, said he interned for years at KRON4, and human resources and other staff knew of his and Gardner's relationship.
"We were deeply in love, very, very, very much in love, Don and I," Reed said. "Everyone around us knew it."
He said that he and Gardner had planned to move to Massachusetts.
"We had dreams for ourselves," Reed said. "... I'm just following through on those on my own."
NCLR senior staff attorney Amy Whelan said in Tuesday's news release, "The plan needs to abide by its promises and provide this much needed benefit to David. It is shocking that a San Francisco-based company and a California plan would discriminate against its employees and their partners in this way. There is absolutely no defense in this case."