ExxonMobil Agrees To Follow Executive Order Protecting LGBT Employees

After 17 years of rejecting workplace protections for LGBT employees, the oil and gas company Exxon Mobil has agreed to abide by the new LGBT workplace discrimination protections for federal employees recently signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The Eagle reports that “the Labor Department has 90 days to issue regulations for how employers must comply.” However, the company has stopped short of creating and applying LGBT protections of its own.

The AP has more:

Exxon… according to government records, won more than $480 million in federal contracts in 2013 and more than $8 billion since 2006…

The company began offering benefits to legally married same-sex couples in May 2013, a month before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which had allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states.

A lawsuit against the corporation is ongoing:

… Exxon is facing a same-sex discrimination complaint in Illinois. Last year, the group Freedom to Work sent the company two fictitious resumes for a job opening in Illinois. One resume had stronger qualifications, but identified the applicant as gay. Exxon Mobil responded to the lesser-qualified applicant's resume while the gay applicant received no reply.

Earlier this month, the Illinois Human Rights Commission overturned a lower body's decision to dismiss the case. Exxon has said the allegations are without merit.

Exxon Mobil Rejects LGBT Workplace Discrimination Policies For 17th Year In A Row

For the seventeenth year in a row Exxon Mobil shareholders have rejected policies protecting LGBT employees from workplace discrimination.

Only 19.5 percent of the shareholders voted for the measure at their annual meeting this Wednesday — that’s lower than the 19.8 percent in 2013 and 20.6 percent in 2012.

Last year, the global oil and gas company began offering domestic partner benefits in accordance with the Labor Department following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

Now the company’s board says it doesn’t need protections for LGBT workers because:

“ExxonMobil’s existing global policies... prohibit all forms of discrimination, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in any company workplace, anywhere in the world.”

However, their lack of LGBT protections scored the company a -25 on Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz commented:

“Over fifty years of practical experience has firmly established that there is heightened sensitivity to discrimination only when categories are enumerated. If ExxonMobil is as committed to zero-tolerance as they claim, there’s simply no reason to have fully-inclusive policies. Until then, their commitment to equality will rightly be questioned.”

A 2013 lawsuit filed by the LGBT labor-rights group Freedom to Work alleges that Exxon Mobil uses discriminatory practices to hire straight workers over equally-qualified gay ones.

Furthermore, a recent report co-authored by Freedom to Work and the HRC also shows that LGBT workers face higher incidents of workplace discrimination despite the increase of LGBT civil protections.

In the meanwhile, The Advocate has alternatives for those looking to support gas companies with greater LGBT-inclusivity, including Chevron and Shell.

ExxonMobil Shareholders Reject LGBT Nondiscrimination Measure

 

This should come as a shock to absolutely nobody: oil giant ExxonMobil's shareholders have once again voted down a proposal that would have provided employment discrimination protections to the company's LGBT employees.

The Dallas Voice reports on the outcome of ExxonMobil's yearly shareholders meeting in downtown Dallas:

Shareholders voted to reject a resolution, 81 percent to 19 percent, from the New York state comptroller calling for the company’s Board of Directors to add sexual orientation and gender identity/expression to the oil giant’s EEO policy. The 19 percent support for the resolution reportedly was the lowest ever.
George Wong addressed the shareholders on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. He presented the business argument that the company should recruit from and retain the widest possible talent pool. Failure to do that leads to less efficient business operations. Most Fortune 500 companies do have inclusive nondiscrimination policies including most other major oil companies, he said.
During general comments, no one else supported the nondiscrimination proposal.

ExxonMobil has the lowest score ever received by a company in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, meriting a -25 rating for rescinding LGBT discrimination protections and cancelling domestic partner health benefits when Exxon acquired Mobil in 1999.  Other oil companies, such as Chevron, BP, Shell and Spectra, have received scores of 85 or higher.

Last week, Freedom to Work, an LGBT rights organization that focuses on employment issues, filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights alleging that the company engages in discriminatory hiring practices.