Aflac: Add Domestic Partner Benefits

Equity Foundation: Sign our Petition to Demand that Aflac Provide Domestic Partnership Benefits to Their Employees

In the 21st century discrimination against LGBT people is unacceptable – and we believe that unfortunately that is precisely what insurance giant Aflac is doing. Aflac has recently refused Equity Foundation’s request to include domestic partner benefits in Aflac’s employee benefits package. This is wrong and should not be allowed to stand. When companies provide equal benefits, it makes a very real difference in the lives of its LGBT employees and sends a message of respect and inclusion – conveying tangible commitment to the principle that equal work deserves equal pay.

Aflac is a terrible laggard in this regard. Eighty-three percent of the Fortune 100 provided domestic partner benefits in 2011, up from 64% in 2004. A growing proportion of the Fortune 500 also provided them in 2011 (58%, from 40% in 2004). Companies in the insurance industry that do provide equal benefits include Aetna, AIG, Chubb, The Hartford, ING North America, MetLife, Nationwide, Unum, State Farm, Wellpoint, Humana, and Cigna.

Please join Equity Foundation by signing this petition and letting Aflac know that this is completely unacceptable www.equityfoundation.org/aflac.  Pressing companies in this way has been successful at hundreds of companies – now is the time for us to speak with a unified voice to Aflac on this issue of basic fairness. We will present this petition to Aflac’s management and Board of directors at its annual meeting in Georgia in May.

Peter Cunningham, Equity Foundation Executive Director said, “In leading this effort, it is our hope that Aflac will embrace same-sex domestic partnerships for their employees and foster a more diverse corporate culture.  Equity Foundation exists not just as a grant making organization, but to also help change the corporate world—it means that our donors’ dollars help change society in more than one way.”

Equity Foundation’s endowments, donor advised funds, and several scholarship funds are invested with Trillium Asset Management, LLC managing the funds.  Equity Foundation believes that its investment policies should reflect the mission and values of the organization and that investment-related activities should be directed at supporting or changing corporate behavior to align with these values.  Specifically, corporations are encouraged by the Foundation to adopt policies that promote social justice, equity and fairness for all people.

The mission of Equity Foundation is to build communities that advance the dignity and worth of all people.  Equity Foundation promotes philanthropy and positive interaction through college scholarships and by granting funds to organizations that work to eradicate prejudice against gender and sexual minorities and people from other diverse communities.