Newsgroups: soc.motss Path: onyx.indstate.edu!usenet.ucs.indiana.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!pacbell.com!rjwill6 From: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.pacbell.com (Rod Williams) Subject: Breakthrough in Cracker Barrel Case Message-ID: <1993Oct20.164547.19132@PacBell.COM> Originator: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.pacbell.com Sender: news@PacBell.COM (Pacific Bell Netnews) Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, California Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 16:45:47 GMT Lines: 82 An Associated Press report in the Business section of yesterday's (10/19/93) San Francisco Examiner, reproduced without permission... --------------------------------------------------- STOCKHOLDERS GET SAY IN POLICIES ON GAYS Judge's ruling OKs an advisory vote Associated Press NEW YORK -- Stockholders must be permitted to have a say in company practices that discriminate against employees, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling, issued late Friday by U.S. District Court judge Kimba Wood, clears the way for shareholders of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. to vote on the company's policy of refusing to hire homosexuals. The New York City Employees Retirement System sponsored a shareholder proposal prohibiting discrimintation at Cracker Barrel after the Lebanon, Tenn.-based restaurant chain announced in 1991 that it would hire only heterosexuals. At least 11 workers were then fired. Cracker Barrel claimed that the New York City retirement system's proposal could be omitted from its shareholder proxy on the ground that the company's anti-gay policy was "ordinary business." The federal Securities and Exchange Commission agreed. In March, the New York City retirement system, and two other groups with stock in Cracker Barrel -- the United States Trust Co. of Boston and the United Methodist Church's Women's Division -- sued the SEC to challenge the ruling. Wood, in her decision, said the SEC may not allow any other companies to keep their shareholders from voting on employment issues. Wood said the SEC could not bar resolutions on employment discrimination from shareholder proxies without going through formal rule-making procedures, a lengthy process that involves issuing an opinion and collecting public comment. Cracker Barrel did not return a phone call seeking comment. A spokeswoman for the SEC, Jennifer Kimball, said her agency had no comment. The decision allows Cracker Barrel shareholders to include the anti-discrimination resolution in the company's 1993 proxy statement, which will be voted on in November. The vote will be the first ever taken on a resolution on employment discrimination and sexual orientation. Such resolutions are merely advisory, and companies are not required to take action on them. But shareholders see them as a powerful way to pressure companies to change their positions on issues such as the environment, workplace safety and investment in South Africa. "This decision allows socially concerned investors to raise issues through the proxy process with companies on important matters related to discrimination," said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. City Comptroller Liz Holtzman, an investment advisor to the New York City retirement system, called Wood's ruling "a victory against all kinds of discrimination." The system controls $22 billion in pension funds. --------------- end of article -------------------- -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san ramon, ca -=- rjwill6@pacbell.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Thomas W. Holt Jr. | Snail-mail: 609 S 6th St Terre Haute, IN 47807-4313 QRD Assistant Elf! | Email: maholt@judy.indstate.edu | Vox: 812-234-2814 Queer Resource Directory is available via Ftp WAIS Gopher Mosaic FtpMail Be Political Not Polite | Gay, Pagan, Proud! | Silence=Death Action=Life