HRC Releases 2011 Corporate Equality Index

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) on Monday released its annual Corporate Equality Index, a survey that assesses American workplaces on more than 30 practices and policies affecting LGBT employees. 

A record 844 American companies and law firms were rated in this year’s survey, including the entire Fortune 500.

The Corporate Equality Index covers nearly every aspect of employment for LGBT workers, from non-discrimination protections to domestic partnership and legal dependent benefits to gender transition guidelines and LGBT employee resource groups.

Target, Best Buy and 3M—corporations that last year received perfect scores on the index—dropped substantially in this year’s rankings after the three companies donated to the campaign of Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who opposes marriage equality. However, 337 companies earned a perfect score in the 2011 index—up from 305 in 2010.

Only one company, ExxonMobil, scored a zero percent based on its continual “resisting [of] shareholder pressure to amend its non-discrimination policy.”

HRC highlights some of the index’s crucial findings:

"Corporate America protects LGBT workers from discrimination and provides benefits in ways that our own government does not. While only 29% of the U.S. population lives in states with statewide non-discrimination statutes that specify sexual orientation and gender identity, 99% of CEI-rated companies include sexual orientation and 76% include sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrimination policies. In 2002, only 5% of CEI-rated companies included gender identity among their non-discrimination policies.

In 2004, only 3% of CEI-rated companies addressed transgender health with limited benefit offerings. Today, 79% of CEI-rated companies provide this limited coverage and 85 companies specifically, including Google Inc., The Coca Cola Co. and AT&T Inc., offer at least one healthcare plan option to all employees that covers many medically necessary transition-related treatment including hormone therapies and sexual affirmation surgeries.

In 2002, 70% of CEI-rated companies provided domestic partnership healthcare benefits. Today, 95% of CEI-rated companies provide that coverage."

To read the full report, click here.