News
2006-06-30
Majority of top
businesses offer domestic-partner benefits
Study: 51% of
Fortune 500 companies provide DP benefits
A majority of
Fortune 500 compani
A majority of
Fortune 500 companies now offer domestic-partner benefits
to their LGBT employees, and 86% officially prohibit
discrimination based on sexual orientation. A new
report released today in Washington, D.C., by the
Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, also
shows that 81 of these top companies ban
discrimination based on gender identity or expression,
a 10-fold increase since 2001.
The annual "State of the Workplace" study by
HRC, created by the organization's Workplace Project
division, examines both business and political
progress on issues affecting LGBT employees. In
addition to the gains in corporate America, the study shows
that three additional states—Illinois, Maine,
and Washington—now prohibit discrimination
against gay and transgender people in private-sector
employment, while Montana became the 13th state to offer
state employees domestic-partner benefits.
"While protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender Americans are stalled in Congress,
corporate America continues to surge ahead," HRC
president Joe Solmonese, said in a statement. "This
isn't a Democratic or a Republican issue. It's an issue of
basic fairness and good business."
He added, "An investment in equal benefits is
minor to the employer but priceless to employees. By
removing barriers to employee success, corporate
America is ultimately removing barriers to the success of
companies across the nation."
As of June 1, 253
of this year's Fortune 500 companies provided health
insurance and other benefits to employees' same-sex domestic
partners. That represents 51% of the elite group, the
first time a majority has offered such benefits since
HRC started keeping track. (The Advocate)
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