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• The impact of the decision striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is clear in the 13 states and the District of Columbia where gay marriage is currently legal, or soon will be: Same-sex married couples must be treated the same as other spouses under federal laws governing tax, health care, pensions and other federal benefits.
• But employee benefit experts say the effect of the ruling remains murky in the other 37 states. The court left intact another provision of the federal anti-gay marriage law that allows one state not to recognize a same-sex marriage performed elsewhere.
• "What's the federal government going to do when you have a valid marriage in New York and the couple moves to Texas? We don't know the answer to that," said Scott Macey, president of the ERISA Industry Committee that represents large employers.
• The confusion is creating uncertainty for many companies that operate nationwide and want to administer benefit plans in a uniform manner.
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• OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Commuter rail service is resuming Friday in the San Francisco Bay area after unions called off a strike, agreeing with the transit agency to extend a labor contract for a month while they continue bargaining.
• Bay Area Rapid Transit will begin operating trains by 3 p.m. PDT Friday, ending a four-day strike that crippled commutes across the Bay Area, Marty Morgenstern, the state's secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, announced late Thursday.
• The current contract between the nation's fifth-largest rail system and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 1021 and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Local 1555, will be extended for 30 days after expiring earlier this week.
• "The contract will be extended until August. 4," Morgenstern said. "The parties will continue to negotiate just as hard as they are now."
• Morgenstern said he and two top state mediators urged the bargaining parties to agree to an extension of the current labor deal as both groups have said repeatedly that they were far apart in terms of reaching a new deal.
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