Oh my! What will they say in Red State America?
The nation’s largest employer is expanding the definition of “immediate family” in its ethics policy to include an employee’s same-sex partner.
The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. policy change — disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday — accounts for the laws in some states that recognize domestic partnerships and civil unions, officials said.
Company spokesman Gus Whitcomb on Thursday declined to say if the change would affect employee benefits, or whether it meant Wal-Mart was taking a position on the issue of same-sex marriage or civil unions.
In practice I’m not sure how much difference this will make–how many Wal-Mart employees get benefits anyway? But I’m sure this will be good for some noisy protests and boycotts. Sad thing is that many would-be boycotters will have to drive a long way to shop somewhere else since all the other stores were driven out of business.