-16 companies agree to adopt reforms in recent months for total of 72 successful anti-bias resolutions over last seven years -

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and the New York City Pension Funds today announced that six Fortune 1000 companies have agreed to revise policies to specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

The companies are among 30 targeted by Thompson and the Funds in an effort to improve workplace equality. To date, 72 companies have agreed to adopt the changes, 16 of which agreed to do so in recent months. Of those 16, seven of them already barred discrimination based on sexual orientation and agreed to now include gender identity.

The Pension Funds are the: New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, Teachers' Retirement System of New York (TRS) and New York City Board of Education Retirement System.

“Corporations across America realize that equal treatment requires commitment, a commitment to understanding that all workers should receive the same protections, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Thompson said. “We have seen that, every year, more firms are taking these steps, and this season, more than half of the companies we have approached have come on board.”

Thompson identified the companies that have agreed to the changes as: Timken Company of Canton, OH; HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. of Houston, TX; Holly Corp. of Dallas, TX; Core-Mark Holding Company Inc. of South San Francisco, CA; Anixter International, Inc. of Glenview, IL; and Frontier Oil Corp. of Houston, TX.

Most of the firms targeted this season are in the Fortune 500 and all are within the Fortune 1000. This is the third proxy season in which all new targeted companies have received a proposal that seeks a prohibition against discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.

The other companies targeted this season are: Pilgrims Pride Corp. of Pittsburg, TX; D.R. Horton of Forth Worth, TX; UGI Corp. of Valley Forge, PA; The Pantry Inc. of Sanford, NC; SYNNEX Corp. of Fremont, CA; Autoliv Inc. of Stockholm, Sweden; Eastman Chemical Corp. of Kingsport, TN; Allegheny Technologies, Inc. of Pittsburgh, PA; Leggett & Platt Inc. of Carthage, MO; FMC Technologies, Inc. of Houston, TX; Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado, AR; Anadarko Petroleum Corp. of The Woodlands, TX; Health Management Associates, Inc. of Naples, FL; Genworth Financial, Inc. of Richmond, VA; Integrys Energy Group, Inc. of Green Bay, WI; Hertz Global Holdings of Park Ridge, NJ; Community Health Systems, Inc. of Franklin, TN; American Financial Group of Cincinnati, OH; Western Refining Inc. of El Paso, TX; Western Union Company of Englewood, CO; World Fuel Services of Miami, FL; Devon Energy of Oklahoma, OK; Chesapeake Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City, OK; and, ExxonMobil of Irving, TX.

Of those, the 10 that have agreed to adopt the City’s proposal are: UGI Corp., The Pantry, Inc., Autoliv, Inc., FMC Technologies, Genworth, Allegheny, Western Union, Health Management Associates, Integrys Energy Group, and Community Health Systems.

The seven companies that already had policies in place barring discrimination based on orientation, but have agreed to now include gender identity are: Autoliv; Community Health Systems; Core-Mark; FMC Technologies; Genworth Financial; Integrys Energy Group; and, Western Union.

The filings represent the latest chapter in an ongoing effort urging Fortune 1000 companies to combat bias and harassment in the workplace. This year represented the largest number of companies to which the Funds have submitted this proposal in a proxy season. Last proxy season, Thompson urged 25 companies to prohibit such discrimination, and 12 agreed to do so (Frontier was initially targeted during the pervious season, and last month notified the Comptroller’s Office that it is amending policies.)

Among the measures was one submitted to ExxonMobil for the eighth time. Shareholder support for the proposal has increased in each subsequent year it has been filed: in May 2008, it was supported by 39.6 percent of shares voted; in 2007, it was supported by 37.7 percent of shares voted.

As a result of the efforts of the Pension Funds and Thompson, to date, 71 companies have amended their policies to include protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Besides Thompson, the New York City Pension Funds’ trustees (chairs in bold) are:

New York City Employees’ Retirement System: 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, Jr. (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Gregory Floyd, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

Teachers’ Retirement System: 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.

New York City 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; Edward D. Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association; Thomas Sullivan, Lieutenants Benevolent Association; and, Roy T. Richter, Captains Endowment Association.

New York City 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; John Dunne, Captains’ Rep.; John J. McDonnell , Chiefs’ Rep., and James J. McGowan, Lieutenants’ Rep., Uniformed Fire Officers Association; and, Joseph Gagliardi, Marine Engineers Association.

Board of Education Retirement System: mayoral appointees Schools Chancellor Joel Klein (Designee, Kathleen Grimm, serves as co-chair), Alan Aviles, Philip Berry, David Chang, Tino Hernandez, Edison O. Jackson, Richard Menschel and Marita Regan; Patrick Sullivan (Manhattan), Wendy Gilgeous (Brooklyn), and Joan Correale (Staten Island); and employee members Joseph D'Amico of the IUOE Local 891 and Milagros Rodriguez of District Council 37, Local 372 (Serves as co-chair).

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