Micron shareholders push adoption of same-sex rule 

The Micron Technology board of directors is recommending that shareholders vote against a proposal that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Office of the Comptroller of New York City intends to present the proposal at Micron’s Dec. 5 shareholder meeting. The Office of the Comptroller is custodian of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, which owns 706,519 shares of Micron stock.
The New York Comptroller has written that a non-discrimination policy is best for business.
According to the proposal, corporations with non-discrimination policies have a competitive advantage recruiting employees from the widest talent pool.
The proposal also states that four municipalities — Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco — will not do business with companies that do not guarantee equal treatment for lesbian and gay employees.
Micron makes sales to institutions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and has operations in states and cities with the same policy, the proposal states.
Idaho is not one of them.
In the election earlier this month, Idaho voters approved an amendment to the state constitution — HJR2 — banning same-sex marriage. The ballot measure passed with 63 percent of the vote.
Micron is listed as a member of the Idaho Inclusiveness Coalition, whose mission is to increase awareness and understanding of diversity issues. The coalition, which includes several other local businesses, collectively opposed the amendment.
Micron spokesman Dan Francisco declined to comment for this story.
In a written response included in the agenda for the shareholder meeting, Micron’s board claims the proposal is unnecessary because the company’s “current policies and practices achieve the objectives of this proposal.”
The board also claims that company policy prohibits only the types of discrimination enumerated by current federal law: “The Board believes that adding to the Company’s written policies additional special categories which are not presently prohibited by federal law undercuts our objective of highlighting federally prohibited activities.”
The statement concludes by saying that the board’s position does not mean that Micron does not have an interest in preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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