Micron adapts policy to bar anti-gay bias

BOISE — Micron Technology Inc. says it will honor shareholder demands from late last year that the Boise-based maker of computer chips change its personnel policies to explicitly bar discrimination over sexual orientation.

The move by the company's board makes Micron the latest publicly traded company to acquiesce to investors on that issue, though some say the changes don't go far enough.

Micron had argued its existing policies provided adequate protection against bias in the workplace, even though they didn't specifically address gay, lesbian and transgender employees.

"It's been our policy to not discriminate," Dan Francisco, a Micron spokesman, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Following conversations with shareholders, we revisited the (written) policy and came to this decision."

At Micron's annual meeting in December, more than 55 percent of shareholders voted to add sexual orientation to the company's written anti-discrimination policy — joining race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age and disability. At the time, the company didn't say if it would honor the vote.

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, who oversees that city's pension funds that own Micron shares, introduced the resolution to make the changes. For more than a decade, Thompson has waged a campaign for companies to adopt such policies.

After Micron's move, a spokesman for Thompson said the comptroller was pleased that it changed its policy. Still, Thompson was disappointed that Micron didn't expand its policy to include not only sexual orientation, but also gender identity. That was also part of its resolution.

"We will continue to urge Micron to take this next, important step, one that received substantial support — 55 percent — from shareholders," said Jeff Simmons, a Thompson spokesman. "We hope that Micron not only hears their call, but understands and embraces the importance and value of this change."

Francisco said the company isn't addressing gender identity at this time.

"The company has long held the belief that its objectives can best be achieved by providing equal employment opportunity for all of its team members," he said.

The Human Rights Campaign, which is based in Washington, D.C., and lobbies for equal rights for gays and lesbians, says more than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies now have policies barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.