Walmart makes gains in treatment of LGBT workers, report finds

Walmart Stores Inc. improved its treatment of gay and lesbian employees over the past year, nudging the retail giant closer to companies such as Apple Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the Human Rights Campaign said.

Walmart scored 90 out of 100, up from 80 last year, in HRC’s 2015 Corporate Equality Index, which judges companies on five benchmarks, including their nondiscrimination polices and commitment to LGBT equality, as well as diversity and inclusion.

Goldman Sachs and Apple were among the record-high 366 companies that scored 100 this year, as was Starbucks Corp., which improved from a score of 90 on the 2014 survey, HRC said. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who last month announced he was
gay in a Bloomberg Businessweek essay, noted on Twitter that Apple had scored 100 for 13 years in a row.

This year’s report demonstrated progress among the largest U.S. companies, HRC said. Eighty-nine percent of businesses in the Fortune 500 now have a sexual-orientation nondiscrimination policy, up from 61 percent in 2002, HRC said.

“When it comes to LGBT equality, corporate America is a leader, not a follower,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “That kind of leadership changes countless lives around this country, and sets an important example to other companies around the
 globe.”

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest energy company by market value, scored a -25. Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers questioned the methodology of the study, which subtracts 25 points for companies that lack “responsible citizenship.”

Exxon’s score was unchanged from last year, though the energy company announced plans in 2013 to extend benefits to same-sex spouses of U.S. employees.

“There are other diversity activities we undertake that they also ignore,” Jeffers said, “such as our inclusion of LGBT examples in employee anti-discrimination training, our LGBT employee resource group and long-time support for LGBT
philanthropic activities.”