Mass. Companies Among Those Calling DOMA 'Bad For Business'

State Street Corp., Eastern Bank and MassMutual Life Insurance are among the Massachusetts companies joining the challenge of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, at the U.S. Supreme Court.

DOMA defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

Lawyer Sabin Willett with the Boston firm Bingham McCutchen wrote the brief arguing that "DOMA is bad for business" because it imposes unnecessary administrative costs.

"A regime of federal law that requires you to treat one set of married employees differently than another not only is bad for the employees, it’s bad for the employers," Willett said.

The Massachusetts companies are filing a legal brief along with hundreds of other big firms across the country, including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Starbucks and Johnson & Johnson.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the DOMA challenge next month.