Cover of Corporate Equality Index 2019 from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation

The 2019 Human Rights Campaign Foundation report on corporate equality for LGBTQ people released Thursday found a record number of U.S. companies and law firms support employees who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer or questioning their gender and/or sexuality.

Among other things the Corporate Equality Index showed that 571 companies and law firms made a perfect equality score, including a record number offering transgender health care policies.

The report also said 85 percent of U.S. companies and law firms include gender identity as part of their nondiscrimination policies, up from a mere 3 percent in 2002, the first year of the annual report.

Beck Bailey, director of the group's workplace equality program, told Corporate Counsel that the 571 number of companies was significant because the group had “significantly strengthened the criteria going into the 2019 survey,” especially in the area of domestic partner benefits, making it more difficult to reach a perfect sore.

Bailey also said that 83 percent of all companies and law firms have transgender health care coverage, including for gender transition. “It is very reflective that this is now standard business practice, much more the norm than the exception,” he added.

The 2019 index evaluated LGBTQ-related policies and practices on detailed criteria in the four broad categories of nondiscrimination policies; employment benefits; support for an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility, including public commitment to LGBTQ equality; and responsible citizenship.

The human rights group suggested businesses and their general counsel can use the index as a guide to help ensure that existing policy and benefits infrastructure are inclusive of the LGBTQ workforce, “resulting in greater recruitment and retention of a talented, diverse workforce.”

The group said it solicited data from the Fortune 1000 list of public companies, the law firms listed in the Am Law 200, and any privately held company with over 500 employees that asked to be included.

In the Am Law 200 the vast majority of law firms scored 100 percent in the index, including Norton Rose Fulbright and Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, with firms like Hunton Andrews Kurth coming close with 95 percent.

Only 13 law firms scored 75 percent or below, many of those now defunct. Holland & Hart is one of the current law firms to receive a low score at 35 percent.

Debbie Campbell, senior communications manager at Holland & Hart, said the law firm's ranking is not based on accurate data. Campbell said, “We have contacted [the group] and made them aware the information isn't accurate and are in the process of updating the data now.”

Of the top 20 Fortune listed companies, 13 received perfect scores and four companies received 90 percent. The other three top 20 companies were Exxon Mobil Corp. with 85, Costco Wholesale Corp. with 60, and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. with 20.

The report did not discuss the companies or law firms individually beyond the rankings. But Beck said Berkshire Hathaway did not respond to an invitation to participate in the survey and was scored based on publicly available data, which consisted of its statement to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that it does not discriminate based on gender or sexual orientation. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Costco.

ExxonMobil spokesperson Ashley Alemayehu said her company's workplace policies include sexual orientation and gender identity, “which is consistent with ExxonMobil's long-standing practice of listing enumerated protected classes as defined by federal law.”

Alemayehu said ExxonMobil's policies prohibit all forms of discrimination in any company workplace, anywhere in the world. “ExxonMobil supports a work environment that values diversity and inclusion, and has numerous inclusive programs and policies that help make ExxonMobil a great place to work,” she added.

One company that landed a perfect score, Walmart Inc., didn't waste any time declaring it on social media. Soon after receiving the index results, Ben-Saba Hasan, Walmart's senior vice president and chief culture, diversity and inclusion officer, posted about it on LinkedIn.

Hasan wrote, “Walmart's efforts satisfying all of the [index] criteria results in the designation as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality. This recognition wouldn't be possible w/out [sic] the leadership of our PRIDE ARG [an associates' resource group] who continually help us advance LGBTQ inclusion.”