
Walgreens Boots Alliance
Risk Level:
Summary:
Walgreens has not publicly canceled business relationships due to ideological views or beliefs. Walgreens funds the Trevor Project and spoke out against state legislation to recognize biological gender in sports. Walgreens does not discriminate against faith-based charities and strives for viewpoint diversity on its board of directors. Yet, it lacks viewpoint protections and pledges to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies. For these reasons, Walgreens receives a "Medium Risk" rating. Note: Walgreens has applied for FDA approval to dispense the abortion drug mifepristone at its pharmacies. It is unclear if the company will provide religious exemptions for pharmacists who object out of closely held beliefs.
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.
While Walgreens has not canceled any business relationships due to views or beliefs, the company has received negative press for firing employees that claimed they were wrongly terminated. In each of these cases, Walgreens has not lost a wrongful termination lawsuit. In one prominent example, a pharmacist was fired for stopping an armed robbery using his legally concealed firearm (1). Nonetheless, there are no specific instances of political or religious discrimination. Walgreens 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 (2)(3). Walgreens has applied for FDA approval to dispense abortion drugs (4).
Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.
Walgreens focuses its charitable giving on education, health, community outreach, and emergency and disaster relief (1). Walgreens states that it does give to faith-based groups as long as the donation fits into these categories and is designed to benefit the community at large and not just the specific religious community. Walgreens has selected four nonprofits associated with health relief for employees to give to.
Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.
Although shareholders discussed improving Walgreens hiring nondiscrimination policy to protect against viewpoint discrimination, the company does not protect employees from viewpoint discrimination (1).
Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.
Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
January 30, 2023
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