04.26.07
Micron refuses to heed shareholder vote on antidiscrimination protection
Micron Technology Inc.’s board of directors has refused to accept a shareholder resolution to change the Boise, Idaho, company’s policies so employees cannot be fired on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The resolution, which was filed by New York City comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. on behalf of the New York City Pension Fund System, in June 2006, received an unprecedented 55% of shareholder votes at the annual meeting last December.
But despite the vote, Micron’s general counsel said this month that the company would ignore the vote and not revise its policies because it feared “expanded legal liability.”
This is the first time that a majority of shareholders at any U.S. company have voted to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
No resolution opposed by company management that included nondiscrimination policies for transgender workers has received more than 50% in its favor.
New York City’s Pension Fund System has more than 2.1 million shares valued at more than $38 million in Micron.
Thompson has filed more than 50 similar shareholder resolutions to date, and approximately 36 companies have changed their policies based on those resolutions.
Thompson called it “truly astounding” that Micron would continue to ignore a 55% shareholder approval for changing the policy. “Strong antidiscrimination policies are not simply an expression of proper social policy, they make sound business sense,” he wrote in a letter to the company’s chairman, president, and CEO, Steven Appleton.
While people can still be fired on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in 33 states, 86% of Fortune 500 companies and 98% of Fortune 100 companies have adopted sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies over the last 20 years, according to the Human Rights Campaign.