View Sexual Orientation Principles

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the City’s Pension Funds, today announced that the Cerner Corporation has agreed to adhere to policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Cerner, a supplier of healthcare information technology, notified the Comptroller that it has amended its non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies to specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The funds are the New York City Employees’ Retirement Fund (NYCERS), the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, and Board of Education Retirement System (BERS).

“I commend the Cerner Corporation for taking this significant step to provide equal opportunity to all employees in all phases of employment, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity,” Thompson said. “This was the right thing to do.”

“The Cerner Corporation has made the right decision,” added NYCERS Trustee and New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “It is time for all companies to end the reprehensible practice of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. I congratulate Comptroller Thompson and my colleagues at NYCERS for helping ensure that companies treat people equally, as they all deserve to be.”

The funds withdrew the Cerner resolution this week. The City’s funds have 163,891 shares valued at $8.5 million in Cerner.

In recent years, the funds have submitted proposals to dozens of Fortune 500 companies calling for policies that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. This season, the funds expanded their efforts and asked three companies to adhere to the Equality Principles, a 10-point code of conduct aimed at advancing workplace equality by barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Besides the Cerner Corporation of Kansas City, MO, the funds targeted Toys “R” Us of Wayne, NJ, and, Delta Airlines of Atlanta, GA. Toys “R” Us has sought approval from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission to omit the proposal from its 2005 proxy.

Additionally, Thompson has urged the following companies to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation: AGCO Corp. of Duluth, GA; Alltel of Little Rock, AR; ExxonMobil of Irving, TX; Alcoa of Pittsburgh, PA; Dana Corp. of Toledo, OH; BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem, NC; Owens-Illinois of Toledo, OH; EchoStar Communications of Englewood, CO; Coventry Healthcare of Bethesda, MD; Harrah’s Entertainment of Las Vegas, NV; Universal Health Services of King of Prussia, PA; Advance Auto Parts of Roanoke, VA; Land America Financial Group of Richmond, VA; and United States Steel of Pittsburgh, PA. Thompson, as well, joined Trillium Asset Management in co-sponsoring a proposal submitted to Reliant Resources of Houston, TX.

To date, 30 companies have amended or agreed to amend their policies. This season, Reliant, Altell, US Steel, Alcoa, Owens-Illinois, Coventry Healthcare, Reliant, Dana, and BB&T agreed to change policies to bar such discrimination. Harrah’s subsequently made its proposal public, so the City withdrew its proposal.

The trustees of the city’s five pension boards are:

New York City Fire Department Pension Fund: Comptroller Thompson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta (Chair); New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; Stephen Cassidy, President, James Slevin, Vice President, Robert Straub, Treasurer, and John Kelly, Brooklyn Representative and Chair, Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York; Peter Gorman, President and Captains’ Rep., Nicholas J. Visconti, Chiefs’ Rep., and Stephen J. Carbone, Lieutenants’ Rep., Uniformed Fire Officers Association; and, Joseph Gagliardi, Marine Engineers Association.

New York City Police Pension Fund: Comptroller Thompson; Mayor Bloomberg; Commissioner Stark; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (Chair); Patrick Lynch, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association; Michael Palladino, Detectives Endowment Association; Edwin Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association; Anthony Garvey, Lieutenants Benevolent Association; and, John Driscoll, Captains Endowment Association.

NYCERS: Comptroller Thompson; Commissioner Stark (Chair); New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Borough Presidents C. Virginia Fields (Manhattan), Helen Marshall (Queens), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn), Adolfo Carrion (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Carroll (Carl) Haynes, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

TRS: Comptroller Thompson; Commissioner Stark (Chair); Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, New York City Department of Education; and, Sandra March, Melvyn Aaronson and Mona Romain, all of the United Federation of Teachers.

BERS: Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Alan Aviles, Phillip Berry, David Chang, Tino Hernandez, Souza Kappner, Richard Menschel and Marita Regan; Borough President appointees Jesse Mojica (Bronx), Martine Guerrier (Brooklyn), Jacquelyn Kamin (Manhattan), Michael Flowers (Queens) and Joan Correale (Staten Island); and employee members Thomas J. Malanga, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 891, and Milagros Rodriguez of District Council 37, Local 372.

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