A majority of Georgia employers that were reviewed by a human rights group for a report on workplace equality fared well.
In a ranking where the best firms scored 100 percent and where others scored in low double digits, 15 businesses out of 25 in the state that were rated hit 80 percent or higher, according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index.
Local companies at 100 percent included law firms Alston & Bird, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan and Troutman Sanders, as well as Coca-Cola Co., ING North America Insurance and UPS.
Delta Air Lines, Newell Rubbermaid, SunTrust Banks and Cox Enterprises scored 90 percent along with law firms Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and King & Spalding.
Home Depot, NCR and McKenna, Long Aldridge were at 80 percent.
Among state companies that scored lower, Southern Co. was at 40 percent, Aflac and Mirant were at 30 percent, Mohawk Industries was at 20 percent, and Agco, First Data and Genuine Parts all were at 15 percent.
Companies were rated on 40 practices and policies. To get a perfect score, they had to, among other things, "have fully-inclusive equal employment opportunity policies [and] provide equal employment benefits."
In one notable finding, nearly one in three of the companies surveyed said they pay for gender reassignment surgery or plan to. The report said that 207 of the 636 businesses questioned provide the benefit or will by the new year. That's up from 85 companies last year. Only 49 did in 2009, and none did a decade ago.
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