The Number of Companies with Top Rating for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workers Jumps by One-Third

Corporate Equality Index, published annually by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, reports that more than 9 million workers have protections from workplace discrimination

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has just released their seventh annual Corporate Equality Index. This report rates 583 businesses on a scale from 0 to 100 percent on their treatment of LGBT employees, consumers and investors. The 2009 edition of the CEI reports 259 businesses achieved 100% rating, which is 1/3 higher than last year. The 259 top-rated businesses collectively employ more than 9 million full-time employees. These workers are protected from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because of their employers’ policies on diversity & inclusion, training, health care, and domestic partnership benefits.

“The 2009 Corporate Equality Index shows that corporate America understands that a diverse workforce is critical to remaining successful and competitive,” said HRC Foundation President Joe Solmonese. “In the absence of a federal law that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, it is up to employers to take the lead and implement policies that ensure all their employees are protected.”

Transgender workers have made major gains since the Corporate Equality Index was first published in 2002. That year, just 5 percent of rated businesses provided employment protections based on gender identity or expression. The 2009 Corporate Equality Index reports that figure has increased twelve-fold: 66 percent of rated businesses now prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression, a 28 percent increase over last year.

Since 2006, CEI participants have been asked to ensure that at least one of five types of medically necessary treatment was available to transgender employees without exclusion. For the first time this year, the CEI contains a more detailed review of documentation that businesses submitted in order to determine whether a broader range of medically necessary treatments would be covered by an insurance plan. In the section entitled “Ending Benefits Discrimination against Transgender Employees,” the HRC Foundation found that 49 businesses have taken significant and substantial steps to remove discrimination from at least one of their health insurance plans. These businesses are highlighted in the report’s appendices.

Here are just a few of the companies that received a 100% rating from CEI this year:
3M (1 year at 100%)
AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah (4 years at 100%)
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (3 years at 100%)
Aetna Inc. (7 years at 100%)
Agilent Technologies (5 years at 100%)
Alaska Airlines (1 years at 100%)
Allstate Corp., The (2 years at 100%)
Apple Inc. (7 years at 100%)
AT&T Inc. (4 years at 100%)
Bank of America Corp. (3 years at 100%)
Bausch & Lomb Inc. (6 years at 100%)
Best Buy Co. Inc. (5 years at 100%)
Boeing Co. (3 years at 100%)
Borders Group Inc. (3 years at 100%)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (3 years at 100%)
Campbell Soup Co. (1 years at 100%)
Charles Schwab Corp., The (5 years at 100%)
Chevron Corp. (4 year sat 100%)
Cisco Systems Inc. (5 years at 100%)
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (1 year at 100%)
Coors Brewing Co. (5 years at 100%)
Dell Inc. (5 years at 100%)
Eastman Kodak Co. (7 years at 100%)
Estee Lauder Companies (4 years at 100%)
Fannie Mae (3 years at 100%)
Gap Inc. (4 years at 100%)
Google Inc. (3 years at 100%)
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. (2 years at 100%)
Hewlett-Packard Co. (6 years at 100%)
ING North America Insurance Corp. (3 years at 100%)
Intel Corp. (3 years at 100%)
Intuit Inc. (4 years at 100%)
Levi Strauss & Co. (3 years at 100%)
Liz Claiborne Inc. (3 years at 100%)
Macy’s Inc. (2 years at 100%)
Marriott (3 years at 100%)
Merrill Lynch & Co. (4 years at 100%)
Microsoft Corp. (4 years at 100%)
Nordstrom Inc. (4 years at 100%)
PepsiCo Inc. (5 years at 100%)
PG&E Corp. (6 years at 100%)
Shell Oil Co. (1 year at 100%)
Sprint Nextel Corp. (4 years at 100%)
Starbucks Corp. (2 years at 100%)
Subaru of America Inc. (2 years at 100%)
Target Corp. (1 year at 100%)
Time Warner Inc. (2 years at 100%)
Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. (3 years at 100%)
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) (2 years at 100%)
Volkswagen of America Inc. (3 years at 100%)
Walt Disney Co. (3 years at 100%)
Wells Fargo & Co. (5 years at 100%)
Xerox (7 years at 100%)
Yahoo! Inc. (2 years at 100%)

The full report is available at: www.hrc.org/documents/HRC_Corporate_Equality_Index_2009.pdf