U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have asked the SEC to require companies to disclose race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability status data of their corporate boards, executive leadership and workforce, according to HRDive.com
Companies are already required to report race, ethnicity and gender data to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – and many companies report it to the public – but the pair says disability data should be revealed as well.
Shareholder activists are pressuring companies to hire and promote more marginalized or underrepresented groups. Corporate leadership and shareholder buy-in is not enough, however, Waters and Brown wrote to the SEC: “Required disclosures on actual spend and hiring is essential to ensuring firms are accountable and transparent to their current shareholders and potential investors,” they said.
Additionally, Waters and Brown asked the SEC to require businesses to disclose supplier data. “Supplier diversity and procurements should be tracked and shared with shareholders, so the company and its shareholders know how their investments are being spent and with whom,” the statement read.
