UnitedHealth Group - 1792 Exchange

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Medium Risk

Summary:

UnitedHealth Group vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies and does not provide its employees with protections against viewpoint discrimination. However, it has not publicly terminated business relationships based on views or beliefs. The company covers travel costs for employee abortions and is a corporate partner of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). It also funds multiple LGBTQ organizations. UnitedHealth Group integrates ESG into all of its business practices and is committed to carbon neutrality by 2035. The company discriminates against religious organizations in its charitable giving. However, it does not use its PAC contributions for ideological purposes. For these reasons, UnitedHealth Group 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

UnitedHealth Group received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. Among other requirements, this means the company has pledged to vet vendors based on LGBTQ policies (1). There are no known instances of UnitedHealth firing anyone because of political or religious beliefs.

Criteria

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

Risk Level

Rationale

UnitedHealth Group refuses to match employee giving to “houses of worship,” even those with a registered charitable tax-exempt status (1)(2).

Criteria

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

Risk Level

Rationale

UnitedHealth Group 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

While UnitedHealth Group has committed to multiple acts of public advocacy for the LGBTQ movement, they have generally avoided corporately advocating for ideological issues or policies (1). However, UnitedHealth has implemented various ESG practices, including a 2035 net-zero carbon emissions pledge and board diversity requirements (2). UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty is a signatory of the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge (3).

Criteria

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

Risk Level

Rationale

UnitedHealth Group provides travel benefits for abortions (1). UnitedHealth is a silver partner of the HRC, a silver sponsor of Out and Equal, and a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (2)(3)(4).

Criteria

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

Risk Level

Rationale

UnitedHealth Group has not used its PAC donations for ideological purposes (1)(2).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
November 30, 2023

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Voting History

Date	ESG Category	Proponent	Summary of Resolution	Mgmt Rec	Total Vote % in Favor
6/5/23	Governance	John Chevedden	Shareholder Ratification of Termination Pay	Against	35.37%
6/5/23	Governance	Educational Foundation of America	Political Contributions Congruency Report	Against	27.61%
6/5/23	Social	Mercy Investment Services, Inc.	Third-Party Racial Equity Audit	Against	20.21%
6/6/22	Governance	John Chevedden	Shareholder Ratification of Termination Pay	Against	42.56%
6/6/22	Social	Educational Foundation of America	Report on Congruency of Political & Lobbying Spending with Values and Priorities	Against	36.70%