Walgreens Boots Alliance

Food and Staples Retailing, Health Care Equipment and Services

Risk Level:

Rating - Caution
Medium Risk

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.

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

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).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

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.

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Although shareholders discussed improving Walgreens hiring nondiscrimination policy to protect against viewpoint discrimination, the company does not protect employees from 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

Walgreens spoke out to denounce state legislation that prevented transgenders from competing in girls sports or using the women’s restroom (1). Walgreens supports LGBTQ intersectionality (2).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Walgreens donated to the Trevor Project (1)(2). It has not funded other ideological groups or causes hostile to freedom of belief.

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Walgreens does not use its political donations for ideological purposes (1)(2).

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

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

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