View Resolution
View Letter

City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today announced that First Horizon National Corporation has agreed to a New York City Pension Funds proposal urging it to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Greater numbers of companies are recognizing that it is not only good business sense but smart common sense to ensure that all employees are treated equally and receive the same workplace protections,” Thompson said. “I am glad to see that corporate America understands that discrimination should not be tolerated in any form, against any person.”

First Horizon of Memphis, TN, notified the Comptroller that it will amend its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics to add an “express prohibition against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“The Board of Directors has approved the amendment and delegated authority to management to revise policies, guidelines, procedures and publications to include a prohibition against such discrimination,” First Horizon said in a letter to the Comptroller’s Office. “Management will also include in its Equal Opportunity Policy and employee publications a prohibition against such discrimination.”

“We are pleased that First Horizon now agrees today's top business practices include equal employment opportunity,” said Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark, who chairs the Boards of Trustees of the New York City Employees and Teachers Retirement Systems.  “Equal employment opportunity assures First Horizon will hire and promote the best and brightest employees and that's crucial for the bottom line.”

As a result of the change, Thompson has withdrawn a resolution filed late last year on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), New York City Police Department Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, New York City Teachers' Retirement System, (TRS) and New York City Board of Education Retirement System.

First Horizon, which has more than 13,000 employees in more than 40 states, provides financial services through hundreds of offices. The New York City Pension Funds have more than 406,942 shares valued at more than $15.5 million in First Horizon.

This is the latest successful resolution filed by the City’s Pension Funds. Last week, Thompson announced that Micron Technology reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that its shareholders in December voted to approve a proposal to bar such discrimination. Micron, however, will not state whether it will adhere to their wishes.

Previously, Thompson and the City’s Pension Funds withdrew similar measures – including ones filed with Toys ‘R’ Us and Wendy’s – after the companies agree to adopt the changes without putting the measure before shareholders. To date, the Comptroller’s Office and Pension Funds successfully have urged dozens of Fortune 1000 companies to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

In addition to Thompson, the trustees for the Pension Funds are:

NYCERS: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Borough Presidents Scott Stringer (Manhattan), Helen Marshall (Queens), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn), Adolfo Carrion (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Carroll (Carl) Haynes, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

TRS: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, New York City Department of Education; and, Sandra March, Melvyn Aaronson and Mona Romain, all of the United Federation of Teachers.

Fire Department Pension Fund: Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta (Chair); New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; Stephen Cassidy, President, James Slevin, Vice President, Robert Straub, Treasurer, and John Kelly, Brooklyn Representative and Chair, Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York; Peter Gorman, President and Captains’ Rep., Nicholas J. Visconti, Chiefs’ Rep., and Stephen J. Carbone, Lieutenants’ Rep., Uniformed Fire Officers Association; and, Joseph Gagliardi, Marine Engineers Assoc.

Police Pension Fund: Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (Chair); Patrick Lynch, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association; Michael Palladino, Detectives Endowment Association; Edwin Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association; Anthony Garvey, Lieutenants Benevolent Association; and, John Driscoll, Captains Endowment Assoc.

BERS: mayoral appointees Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Alan Aviles, Philip Berry, David Chang, Tino Hernandez, Augusta Souza Kappner, Richard Menschel and Marita Regan; Borough President appointees Martine G. Guerrier (Brooklyn), Vivian Farmery (Manhattan), Michael Flowers (Queens), and Joan Correale (Staten Island); and employee members Thomas J. Malanga of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 891, and Milagros Rodriguez of District Council 37, Local 372.