Trader Joe’s

California
Food and Staples Retailing

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Clear
Lower Risk

Trader Joe's has fired employees for going around its employee "Open Door Policy" for the purpose of ideological activism, but has applied this without bias. The company does not discriminate against religious organizations in its charitable giving. Trader Joe's has not used its reputation or corporate funds for ideological purposes. For these reasons, Trader Joe's receives a Lower 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

Trader Joe’s allegedly fired an employee in 2021 after requesting better COVID protections (1). The company also fired an employee in 2021 after criticizing the company’s BLM policy (2). Trader Joe’s has an “Open Door Policy,” allowing employees to vocalize concerns to leadership through internal channels, and the company has fired employees who have openly bypassed this policy (typically for the purpose of political activism) without political bias.

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Trader Joe’s does not discriminate against religious organizations in its charitable giving (1).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Trader Joe’s does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (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

Trader Joe’s has fought back against ideological messaging campaigns with relative frequency. At the height of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Trader Joe’s responded to its left-wing critics by stating that the company “does not make decisions based on petitions” (1).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Trader Joe’s has not used its corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (1).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
N/A
Rationale

Trader Joe’s does not operate a PAC or report on its lobbying at this time (1)(2)(3).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
February 12, 2024

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

Generate Reports
Clear
Toast

This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics and metrics about our visitors both on this website and other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy.

Accept