A company being sued by a Griswold woman for sex discrimination said Thursday that it is changing its corporate health insurance offerings to include coverage for same-sex couples.

Kerry Considine, 36, works at Brookdale Place of West Hartford. She sued Brookdale Senior Living, the Tennessee-based company that operates Brookdale Place, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

According to Considine's complaint, filed with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Brookdale refused to add her wife, Renee Considine, to her health insurance coverage, saying that they do not offer coverage to same-sex spouses.

Brookdale said in an emailed statement Thursday that it currently offers a plan to its employees in California that provides coverage to same-sex spouses.

"We are in the process of revising our corporate-wide health insurance program to include spousal coverage for any marriage or civil union recognized by state law," company spokeswoman Julie K. Davis wrote in the email. "We expect to make this change and offer this coverage within the next 60 days."

Connecticut legalized same sex marriage in 2008.

Janson Wu of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who is representing Kerry Considine, learned of Brookdale's statement from The Courant Thursday.

"We have not heard directly from Brookdale with regards to whether they would provide our client with spousal health insurance or not," he said. "There are certainly other issues in this case," such as damages incurred for health care for Renee Considine since the women got married.

"At this point, if it is a case that they will be changing the policy, that will be very positive, but it does not resolve the case," Wu said.

Considine said she and Wu are considering their next step.

In the statement, Brookdale maintains that its "current health insurance program fully complies with applicable law."

"We want to thank our associate for bringing this matter to our attention and to remind all of our associates of our open door policy that is in place to foster trust and dialogue, and to resolve concerns," Davis wrote.

Considine's complaint charts new legal territory in the year following the Supreme Court's repeal of the part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

Same-sex marriage is not legal in Tennessee, where the company is headquartered. Brookdale Place of West Hartford is one of more than 550 senior living facilities operated by Brookdale.

Connecticut laws explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. It is illegal "for an employer … to discriminate against [an individual] in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of the individual's sexual orientation or civil union status," according to section 46a-81c of the Connecticut General Statutes.

But Brookdale is self-insured. Self-funded insurance plans are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and a 1983 Supreme Court decision said ERISA takes precedence over state employment and insurance laws, including Connecticut's sexual orientation discrimination laws.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — under which Considine filed her complaint — makes it illegal to "discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." Because of ERISA, Connecticut's sexual orientation discrimination protections do not apply, according to Wu.

Since the Supreme Court overturned DOMA on June 26, same-sex married couples are recognized as legal for federal purposes, such as tax filings. Tennessee law expressly bans same-sex unions.

But because Brookdale operates Considine's place of work in Connecticut, it must abide by Connecticut laws, employment law experts said.

D. Charles Stohler is a partner and co-leader of the labor and employment group at Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP.

"The Tennessee company couldn't say, 'We're not going to pay [Connecticut's] minimum wage,' " for a branch operated in the state, he said.

Stohler acknowledged that complications arise because of the company's self-insured plan regulated by ERISA, but "that being said, I still don't think it allows them to define marriage," he said.

Mary Kelly, a partner with Hartford labor and employment firm Livingston, Adler, Pulda, Meiklejohn & Kelly, said Considine's decision to file under Title VII "does make logical sense to me."

"It seems reasonable that it would violate Title VII to discriminate in terms of benefits of employment based on the gender of your spouse," she said.

Both Stohler and Kelly said cases like this are rare.

"I expect to see a lot more of them," Kelly said. "There have not been a lot of cases, I don't believe, since DOMA was struck down."

Perhaps the most closely related is a recent case out of Washington state. Two employees of BNSF Railway late last year sued the company under the Equal Pay Act for denying health insurance coverage to their same-sex spouses even though gay marriage is legal in Washington state, according to an Associated Press report. That company also changed its policy shortly after the filing.

Although Considine's case "may be a first as it applies to spousal health insurance," Wu said, "gay people have long been able to bring claims that they were discriminated against because of their sex."

For Considine, the case is simply about fairness and equality. She and Renee hope to start a family with Renee carrying the baby and are worried about the costs if Renee, a graduate student, must remain on her basic student insurance plan.

"I guess for me, the biggest thing about this is that I really, genuinely feel that I'm being disrespected in a state that views my marriage as legal," Considine said earlier this week. "I just wanted to be treated fairly and justly, the same as my co-workers are. It shouldn't be about I'm married to a woman or a man, it should be, I'm an employee and they're providing care for my spouse."

If the case goes forward after Brookdale changes its insurance plan, the federal EEOC or state CHRO will investigate Considine's case and will either mediate the case or issue a preliminary decision.