Human Rights Campaign survey shows most, least LGBTQ-friendly companies

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) published the 2019 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), identifying the most and least LGBTQ-inclusive companies in America and illustrating the gap in equality within the freight industry.

CEI scores are given to measure the treatment of LGBTQ employees and are based on a company’s non-discrimination policies, employment benefits, efforts to support an inclusive culture and responsible citizenship.

“The top-scoring companies on this year’s CEI are not only establishing policies that affirm and include employees here in the United States, they are applying these policies to their global operations and impacting millions of people beyond our shores,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a release. “Many of these companies have also become vocal advocates for equality in the public square, including the dozens that have signed on to amicus briefs in vital Supreme Court cases and the more than 170 that have joined HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act. Time and again, leading American businesses have shown that protecting their employees and customers from discrimination isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s also good for business.

Many freight industry companies like American Airlines, Uber and UPS earned perfect scores of 100 on the CEI, while some like JB Hunt, C.H. Robinson and XPO came up short.

Mail and Freight Delivery:

United Parcel Service Inc. – 100  

FedEx Corp. – 90

Union Pacific Corp. – 80

Norfolk Southern Corp. – 65

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. – 20

JB Hunt Transportation Services Inc. – 20*

XPO Logistics – 20*

YRC Worldwide Inc. – 10

Transportation and Logistics:

American Express Global Business Travel – 100

Lyft Inc. San Francisco – 100  

Uber Technologies Inc. – 100

Avis Budget Group Inc. – 90

Ryder System, Inc. – 80

Cargo Transporters Inc. – 75

CSX Corp. – 70  

C.H. Robinson Worldwide – 20*

Expeditors International of Washington Inc. – 10*

Airlines:

American Airlines – 100  

Southwest Airlines Co. – 100  

United Airlines – 100  

Alaska Airlines – 90

JetBlue Airways Corp. – 90

Delta Air Lines Inc. – 85

Hawaiian Airlines Inc. – 85

SkyWest Airlines Inc. – 70

Virgin America – 65

AirTran Holdings Inc. – 10

*Some companies on the list did not respond to numerous invitations from HRC to participate in the survey and were given unofficial ratings based on public information.

The full report is available online at www.hrc.org/cei.