Estee Lauder Companies

New York
Household and Personal Products

Risk Level:

Rating - Caution
Medium Risk

Summary:

Estee Lauder Companies (parent of Clinique, Aveda, Origins, and other cosmetic products) has not canceled clients or contracts due to views or beliefs. The company forced out an executive for a racially insensitive social media post while standing up to employee pressure to oust a board member over support for President Trump. Estee Lauder has supported Planned Parenthood and advocated for the Equality Act. The company does not have viewpoint protections for its employees. Estee Lauder has supported Planned Parenthood and donated to organizations adjacent to the Black Lives Matter movement. For these reasons, Estee Lauder receives a "Medium Risk" rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

Estee Lauder received a perfect score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (1). Among other requirements, this means the company has pledged to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies. Estee Lauder held firm against employee pressure to oust a board member and family heir, Ronald Lauder, due to his support of President Trump (2). The company did suspend a top executive over what it deemed a racially insensitive social media post, though it appears as though the executive stepped down willingly after the incident (3).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Estee Lauder matches employee donations to charity but has additional restrictions for religious charities, including nondiscrimination for gender identity (1). The company does not appear to discriminate in its other corporate donations.

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Estee Lauder does not protect its employees from potential viewpoint discrimination (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Estee Lauder supports the Equality Act (1). Estee Lauder subsidiary Aveda requires unconscious bias training for all full-time employees (2). Estee Lauder denounced state legislatures’ efforts to change their election processes (3).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Estee Lauder and affiliates gave $500,000 to Planned Parenthood (1). Estee Lauder has also pledged to fund employee abortion travel and costs (2). Estee Lauder pledged $11.8 million to Black Lives Matter and related causes (3)(4).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

Estee Lauder does not have a PAC (1).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
March 29, 2023

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

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