Activists allege anti-gay bias in hiring at Exxon Mobil

5/28/2013

NEW YORK — One after another, major U.S. corporations have updated anti-discrimination policies to protect gay, lesbian, and transgender workers, drawing plaudits from gay-rights groups. There’s one prominent exception: Exxon Mobil Corp.

In the latest rankings of such corporate policies by the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group, many of Exxon’s Fortune 500 counterparts got scores of 80 or higher on a scale of 100.

Exxon, the nation’s largest oil and gas company, became the first firm to get a score below zero.

Last week, in the latest attempt to pressure the company into change, a gay-rights group called Freedom to Work teamed with a high-powered Washington law firm to file what they described as a groundbreaking discrimination complaint against Exxon in Illinois.

The complaint, filed with the state’s Department of Human Rights, says Exxon was sent two nearly identical resumes for a job opening at its office in Patoka, Ill. The only substantive differences were that one of the fictional applicants was clearly depicted as a gay-rights activist, and had higher college and high-school grades than the other applicant.

According to the complaint, Exxon’s human resources office at its home base in Texas confirmed receipt of both applications, then made several efforts to contact the applicant with the lower grades to set up an interview.

The applicant who indicated she was gay received no such followups.

“Exxon has repeatedly claimed they do not discriminate,” said Tico Almeida, Freedom to Work’s president. “We are bringing forward proof they’ve broken the law, and we’re hopeful this compelling case will move them over the tipping point.”

An Exxon Mobil spokesman, Charles Engelmann, said the company was reviewing the complaint, and had no immediate comment on its allegations.

“Exxon Mobil’s global policies and processes prohibit all forms of discrimination, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in any company workplace, anywhere in the world,” Mr. Engelmann said in an email. “In fact, our policies go well beyond the law and prohibit any form of discrimination.”

The Washington-based law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, which often works with advocacy groups on workplace discrimination cases, has provided two of its attorneys to handle the Freedom to Work complaint. One of them, Peter Romer-Friedman, contended Exxon’s handling of the two job applications was a clear violation of Illinois’ anti-discrimination law.

Illinois is one of 21 states that prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. Texas has no such law, and Congress has not passed a nationwide ban.

Mr. Romer-Friedman said the tactic of submitting fictional, nearly identical applications is a time-tested, legally accepted technique that has been successful in the past in uncovering bias against blacks and women in hiring and fair-housing cases. The Exxon case marks the first time the tactic has been used to allege anti-gay bias, he said.

Exxon has been criticized over workplace policies in an era where the vast majority of other large U.S. corporations, including rival oil companies, have adopted policies that earn high scores from the Human Rights Campaign.

Most, for example, voluntarily offer health benefits to employees’ same-sex partners; Exxon does not do so.

Exxon insists its policies toward gay and lesbian employees are fair and supportive, and rejects the Human Rights Campaign scorecard.