Yelp

California
Commercial and Professional Services, Media and Entertainment

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

Yelp allegedly fired an employee for not being accessible during religious observance on Easter weekend. Yelp covers abortion-related travel costs for its employees and the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care" for its employees and their children. The company does not protect its employees against viewpoint discrimination. Yelp pledged $2 million to BLM and related causes and also donated to the Equality PAC. For these reasons, Yelp receives a High 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

Yelp allegedly fired an employee for not being accessible during religious observance on Easter weekend (1). The employee received an email just before midnight on Good Friday and had not seen the email or responded; this incident escalated until the employee was asked by his boss to respond to the request on Easter Sunday and eventually terminated for not complying. Yelp received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Among other requirements, this means the company has a written policy pledging to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies (2)(3).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp does not discriminate against religious organizations in its charitable giving (1)(2).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp 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

Yelp signed an open letter opposing the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which prevents teaching gender identity and sexual orientation in schools to kids in K-3rd grade (1). In 2015, Yelp’s CEO spoke out against a religious freedom bill in Indiana (2). In 2020, Yelp launched a user-submitted “Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert” feature that enables users to flag establishments with accusations of racial motivation (3). Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman is a signatory to CEOs For Gun Safety (4).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp committed to funding its employees’ abortion travel expenses (1). The company has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index; this score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (2)(3). Yelp pledged $2 million to the Black Lives Matter movement and related causes (4)(5). Yelp also signed the Fifteen Percent Pledge and “committed to dedicate 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned brands” (6)(7).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp donated to the Equality PAC (1)(2). The company has not lobbied for ideological bills or issues.

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

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