Equality at Exxon Mobil Corporation
Exxon Mobil Corp. (ExxonMobil, NYSE: XOM) is the world's second-largest integrated oil company (ahead of Royal Dutch Shell but behind BP), has broken several U.S. records for annual corporate earnings and has consistently ranked in the top three of Fortune magazine's annual list of the largest U.S. businesses since 2000. It supplies refined products to tens of thousands of service stations in more than 100 countries that operate under the Exxon, Esso and Mobil brands (including more than 16,000 in the US).
ExxonMobil is also the only U.S. employer that has ever rescinded both a non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation and domestic partner benefits, and is now the only Fortune 10 company that does not have a non-discrimination policy covering "sexual orientation."
Industry peers BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies. Mobil Corp. offered such written protection to its employees, but this protection was revoked upon its merger with Exxon Corp. in 1999. (BP and Chevron also prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity.) Mobil Corp. also provided domestic partner health benefits to its employees; employees are no longer able to enroll in benefits after the merger with Exxon in 1999. Today, BP, Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips all provide domestic partner benefits.
What You Can Do
Twenty-four members of Congress and thousands of stockholders and consumers wrote to ExxonMobil Chairman Lee R. Raymond in December 1999 to protest the policy reversals. At the May 2000 annual meeting, Raymond brushed aside discussion on changing his company's written Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy, stating that interested parties should "go pass a federal law instead." Since then, thousands of customers have stopped shopping at Exxon, Mobil and Esso stations, others have mailed back their cut up gas cards with letters explaining why they won't support the company.
Buy from competitors of Exxon Mobil that support GLBT employees:
ExxonMobil Does Not Prohibit Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation
As with all employers, we look to a company's primary non-discrimination or equal employment opportunity policy that explicitly states "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" alongside other protected classes. As of January 2008, the company's EEO policy as found in its Standards of Business Conduct reads as follows, without any reference to sexual orientation or gender identity:
"Equal Employment Opportunity Policy (modified for application in the United States). It is the policy of Exxon Mobil Corporation to provide equal employment opportunity in conformance with all applicable laws and regulations to individuals who are qualified to perform job requirements regardless of their race, color, sex, religion, national origin, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or other legally protected status. The Corporation administers its personnel policies, programs, and practices in a nondiscriminatory manner in all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment, hiring, work assignment, promotion, transfer, termination, wage and salary administration, and selection for training."
- Exxon Mobil Corp: Standards of Business Conduct - Equal Employment Opportunity [www.exxonmobil.com]
