THE HOME DEPOT, INC. | Racial Equity Audit at THE HOME DEPOT, INC.

Status
62.77% votes in favour
AGM date
Resolution details
Company ticker
HD
Lead filer
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Social
ESG sub-theme
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI)
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Consumer Discretionary
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
Service Employees International Union has filed the following resolution. This will be updated in the lead filer field as soon as possible.

Shareholders of The Home Depot, Inc. (“Home Depot”) urge the Board of Directors to oversee an independent racial equity audit analyzing Home Depot’s adverse impacts on nonwhite stakeholders and communities of color. Input from civil rights organizations, employees, and customers should be considered in determining the specific matters to be analyzed. A report on the audit, prepared at reasonable cost and omitting confidential and proprietary information, as well as information regarding current litigation and claims of which Home Depot has notice, should be publicly disclosed on Home Depot’s website.
Supporting statement
High-profile police killings of black people have galvanized the movement for racial justice. That movement, together with the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, have focused the attention of the media, the public and policy makers on systemic racism, racialized violence and inequities in employment, health care, and the criminal justice system.
In June 2020, Home Depot CEO Craig Menear stated: “We are all confronting deep pain and anguish over the senseless killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and other unarmed Black men and women in our country. We cannot ignore that their deaths are part of a pattern of racism and reflect the harsh reality that as a nation we are much too far from fulfilling the promise of equal justice for all.”1
In a widely-publicized 2021 incident, a Minneapolis Home Depot store suspended an employee who refused to remove a Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) logo from his apron, then told him to stop wearing the logo or quit, which he did. A National Labor Relations Board complaint alleged that the company enforced its dress code “selectively and disparately” against workers engaged in “protected concerted activity,” including discussing racial discrimination and harassment, and that it constructively discharged the employee who wore the BLM logo.2
Home Depot has donated to police foundations in Detroit and Atlanta, where a Home Depot vice president sits on the board of trustees.3 The Atlanta Police Foundation has funded a network of 11,000 surveillance cameras, making Atlanta the most surveilled city in the United States; surveillance technology has been used to target communities of color and nonviolent protestors. In June 2020, the Foundation also gave each Atlanta police officer a $500 bonus for walking off the job to protest charges filed against officers for the murder of a Black man.4
During the 2019-2020 election cycle, Home Depot’s political action committee (“PAC”) gave $465,000 to 63 Republican Congress members who objected to the 2020 election results, an action some viewed as “a direct attack on the voting rights of people of color.”5 Although Home Depot has paused such contributions, PACs affiliated with trade associations of which it is a member have continued to donate.6
Finally, an independent audit would provide objectivity, assurance and specialized expertise beyond what would be possible with an internal analysis.

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