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Wendy's
Adds Gays, Transgenders
To
Employment Policy
by
365Gay.com from the Web, May 3, 2006
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Washington -- Fast food chain
Wendy's International has agreed to amend its employment nondiscrimination
policy by adding new written protections based on sexual orientation and gender
identity for all employees.
The change came after lobbying by the LGBT civil rights group Equality Project
and one of the company's biggest shareholders.
The New York City Employees Retirement Fund filed a shareholders resolution with
the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the policy change.
After the company agreed to the changes the resolution was withdrawn without
needing to go to stock holders at the next Annual Meeting.
“The good news from Wendy’s proves once again that building coalitions around
the Equality Principles is a strategy that works for shareholders and policy
advocates alike, and deserves support by more institutions,” said Grant
Lukenbill, managing director of the Equality Project.
The Equality Principals are ten objectives of the Project that include
anti-discrimination policies in the workplace and in advertising.
The New York City Employees Retirement Fund under NYC Comptroller, William B.
Thompson has been a leading advocate of LGBT workplace rights.
Both groups are now turning their attention to ExxonMobil, the only major U.S.
company that has ever rescinded a non-discrimination policy covering sexual
orientation.
The provision had been available to workers at Mobil. But, in December
1999 Mobil merged with Exxon and under Exxon's direction the policy was
abandoned. At the same time, it closed Mobil's domestic partner benefits
program to any more employees.
The company also is the only Fortune 50 company not to include sexual
orientation in its primary non-discrimination policy.
NYCERS currently holds 11.9 million shares worth approximately $446 million in
the company.
For the sixth year in a row the pension fund and a group of other Exxon
shareholders will present a non-discrimination motion at the company's annual
meeting.
The resolution received the highest numbers of votes of all resolutions in 2005
-– an impressive 29.4 percent representing 1.55 billion shares in favor of the
policy.
New York's pension funds have a long history of activism on behalf of social
causes, including gay rights. The funds were part of a decade-long battle
to get CBRL Group Inc., the parent company of the Cracker Barrel restaurant
chain, to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. CBRL, which
reportedly fired at least 11 gay workers in the 1990s, agreed to change its
policy in November 2002 after a resolution garnered 58 percent of the vote.
It also backed a resolution that resulted in J.C. Penney Co. supporting LGBT non
discrimination.
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