Workplace Benefits For Gay Men And Lesbians Improving
Growing numbers of U.S. employers are extending benefits to the partners of employees in same-sex relationships, and have included sexual orientation and gender identity in their nondiscrimination policies, according to the national advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation.
By the end of 2004, at least 8,250 private and public employers were providing health benefits for domestic partners, representing an increase of 13% over the previous year, according to the 2004 HRC report The State of the Workplace for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans.
Among private employers, 216 Fortune 500 companies were offering these benefits by the end of last year. Some 17 Fortune 500 companies added the benefits in 2004, including General Electric Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., United Parcel Service, Aon Corp., Pepsi Bottling Group Inc., and Staples Inc.
An additional 13 of the Fortune 500 companies have announced plans to start offering the benefits in 2005, including Carmax, J.C. Penney Company Inc., and Home Depot. One company, Automatic Data Processing Inc., said it would begin offering the benefits in 2006.
In total, the study found, 230 of America’s largest companies—or 46% of the Fortune 500—either provided, or said they intended to start providing, domestic partner benefits as of March 1, 2005. Ten years ago, according to the report, only 21 Fortune 500 companies offered such benefits for domestic partners of employees.
Even among this elite group, the largest and most successful companies were the most likely to provide domestic partner benefits, according to HRC. More than three-quarters of Fortune 50 companies provided the benefits. The vast majority of these companies extended the benefits to both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners.
HRC researchers identified 2,867 private and public employers that included sexual orientation in their organization’s primary equal employment opportunity or nondiscrimination policies by the end of 2004. This number, the report said, represents an increase of 4% over the previous year. Among Fortune 500 companies, 410—or 82%—included sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies in 2004, and another four had added it to their policies by March 1, 2005. Only one Fortune 50 company, Exxon Mobil Corp., failed to include measures banning sexual orientation discrimination in its policies.
A much smaller group of 201 private employers, colleges, and universities added the terms "gender identity" and/or "gender expression" to their written nondiscrimination policies by the end of 2004, according to the HRC report. Also by the end of 2004, 51 Fortune 500 companies also included these terms, up 89% from 2003 when 27 Fortune 500 companies had this policy. By the report’s publication, an additional three Fortune 500 companies had incorporated similar language into their nondiscrimination policies.
While the number of employers addressing the issue of discrimination against transgender employees is still relatively small, HRC researchers observed that it is rising rapidly. Some very large companies have instituted gender identity nondiscrimination policies, including Ford Motor Co., Citigroup Inc., Dell Inc., IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., and Merrill Lynch & Co.
"Corporate America knows that fair treatment is not just the right thing to do—it’s good for the bottom line," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "Non-discrimination policies and equal employee benefits help recruit and retain the best talent while improving productivity by ensuring that all of their employees can provide for their families."
Solmonese acknowledged, however, that corporate policies supportive of same-sex couples can trigger a backlash from social conservatives. A Christian lobbying group, American Family Association (AFA), staged a nine-year boycott of Walt Disney Co. for promoting what it called a "pro-homosexual agenda," and recently threatened to boycott Ford Motor Co. for similar reasons. Responding to Ford dealer requests, the AFA said in June it would suspend the Ford boycott for six months.
