Our List Of Gay-Friendly Automakers Vs. HRC’s Corporate Equality Index

Richard Read

Recently, someone contacted us via the Gaywheels Facebook page to ask about Mercedes-Benz and its policies toward LGBT employees. He was confused by a discrepancy between our list of gay-friendly automakers and HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, which ranks companies on a range of LGBT issues, like anti-discrimination policies, whether they offer health benefits to same-sex spouses, and so on.

It was a great question, so I’m posting my response here, too, in the hopes that it might address concerns that have kept some of you up at night. Or not.

* * * * *

Basically, the reader wanted to know how Mercedes-Benz earned a spot on Gaywheels’ list of LGBT-friendly automakers when the company has a score of zero on HRC’s CEI.

The short answer is, Mercedes isn’t actually on the CEI.

It’s not the only conspicuous absence. As you’ll see on page 79 of HRC’s most recent CEI, many automakers are missing in action — not just Mercedes-Benz, but also BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Volvo. That’s because in building the CEI, HRC targets two specific groups of employers:

  • Fortune magazine’s 1,000 largest publicly-traded businesses (the Fortune 1000),
  • American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue grossing law firms (the AmLaw 200).

So, because Mercedes et al. aren’t Fortune 1000 companies or major law firms, HRC doesn’t solicit them for inclusion in the CEI.

Other companies can submit CEI data to HRC if they choose, so long as they have more than 500 employees and aren’t owned by a larger U.S.-based corporation. Many automakers do so, including Nissan, Subaru, Tesla Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen. (Last year, Hyundai did too, but we think it fudged some data, since it’s still on our LGBT-unfriendly list.) However, supplying such information is strictly voluntary.

The reader’s confusion probably stems from the fact that Mercedes-Benz is listed in the CEI employer database, but it has no data and no CEI score. That makes it seems as if the company has a score of zero, when in fact it doesn’t have a score at all.

Bottom line: Mercedes-Benz isn’t included in HRC’s CEI, and it isn’t obligated to submit information to the survey, so it doesn’t have an official CEI score. However, someone at HRC put Mercedes in the employer database, presumably in the hopes of updating its details one day.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz has confirmed to Gaywheels that it has non-discrimination policies in place to protect LGBT employees. That earns it a spot on our gay-friendly list.

Clear as mud?

We’re planning a more detailed survey for automakers that we’ll deliver this summer. Stay tuned!

3 thoughts on “Our List Of Gay-Friendly Automakers Vs. HRC’s Corporate Equality Index”

  1. Being gay friendly is great! But, can we get some info on how trans friendly automakers are?

  2. Yes! Questions like that will be included on our new survey that’s being sent to to automakers within the next month or so. We hope to be able to post responses by late summer or early fall. Stay tuned…

Comments are closed.