With new Green and Cleantech companies emerging, there is an opportunity to make sure that a "Green Job is an Equal Job."
Green employers and employees should set a high bar for workplace inclusion, and there is room for improvement. Overall, 60 percent of all corporate employers offer domestic partner benefits, according to HRC. A new study by the Department of Labor shows that DP benefits are actually available to only 20-30 percent of workers overall.
Urging new Green companies to be inclusive can up these percentages as solar and other Cleantech firms are gaining market share in the US economy. You can ask, for example, solar providers about thier diversity policy. The same goes for other companies in the sustainability space. It it's Green, clean and sustainable, a product or service needs to be created in
an equality workplace as well.
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Source: HRC
"New Data on Domestic Partner Benefits
For the first time, data on domestic partner benefits was included as part of the Department of Labor’s National Compensation Survey (NCS). This is the first time that a federal government survey has asked employers about domestic partner benefits. HRC President Joe Solmonese released the following statement:
The inclusion of domestic partner data in major surveys and studies presents new opportunities to fully understand and address the challenges that LGBT people face.
Offering domestic partner benefits has increasingly become a standard best practice in America's workplaces, with nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies offering them. The data released in the NCS reflects that progress, but also reminds us that, despite the advances in corporate America, many American workers still lack access to equal benefits for their families. For example, the NCS shows that only 29% of private sector workers have access to health insurance benefits for a same-sex domestic partner, and that number drops to around 20% in the South and Midwest."
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- Kathleen Connell, M.A.
