The New York State Common Retirement Fund
filed multiple shareholder proposals this year in support of its
campaign to address diversity, equity and inclusion at public companies. The Fund released details on its primary proposals in a recent press release, including:
- Proposals on EEO-1 Reporting: The Fund submitted proposals to a number of firms requesting disclosure of EEO-1 data and reached agreements with several companies, such as Hilton, to do so in exchange for withdrawing the proposal.
- Board Diversity: This has been a major focus for the Fund for years, and this year its proposal at First Community Bankshares passed with 71% investor support. The Fund voted against 345 directors at 97 companies with only one ethnically diverse director and 90 directors at 13 companies that failed to respond to Comptroller DiNapoli’s diversity letter.
- Racial Equity Audit: Although a newer focus for the Fund, its proposal at Amazon requesting an independent racial equity audit received significant support (44%).
- Linking Pay to D&I: The Fund announced it had reached an agreement with McDonald’s regarding tying executive pay to diversity representation and was withdrawing its proposal on the subject.
As summarized in this excellent
Gibson Dunn memo, average support for social proposals in general went up from 21.5% in 2020 to 30.6% in 2021; over half of these were diversity-related and many of them passed. This is a clear indicator that proponents are likely to continue their efforts in 2022, emboldened by this year’s success.
