In recent years, Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) has sprung up as an area of interest to a variety of business forums -- they promote it, talk about it, tout their CSR “compliance” on their websites, and brag about it to whoever will listen. Many corporations have entire CSR departments. They release yearly reports documenting their CSR compliance. Law firms have even established CSR practice areas. Corporations may seek to ensure they are advancing “sustainable” practices were possible, that they are treating indigenous populations equitably, and that their suppliers are not committing human rights abuses. “Green” corporations may enact policies above and beyond regulatory requirements in order to further their goal of caring for the environment. While laws related to CSR have been enacted in various jurisdictions, much CSR corporate compliance is still voluntary. So why have companies moved toward and embraced CSR? While they would likely provide a variety of reasons, the fact remains that the driving force behind these businesses -- the people who run them -- think it is a good thing.
By and large, no one critiques corporate interest in CSR. Many say it is a good development. No one claims that “corporations” cannot engage in CSR-related advocacy. And most of the large corporations with CSR departments are for-profit companies.
How, then, do we arrive at the curious and odd criticism of Hobby Lobby for relying on religious beliefs in its operation? There is no good answer to this. Hobby Lobby’s religious positions are the result of the same driving force producing CSR program at other companies -- its owners and operators. It is ironic that the company being criticized for its challenge to the HHS mandate has voluntarily implemented generous CSR type programs, like starting its new employees at 90% above the minimum wage. Yet Hobby
Those claiming a corporation cannot have a religious identity look to be on increasingly weak ground, however, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently ruled in Carnell Construction Corportation v. Danville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, No. 13-1143 (4th Cir. Mar. 6, 2014) that a corporation can have a racial identity under federal law. If the issue is whether a corporation can have an “identity” that drives its goals and priorities, what’s the difference between a “religious” and “racial” identity?
As Matt Bowman, an attorney for Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation (which is facing the same issue as Hobby Lobby at the Supreme Court), points out: “[a] gaggle of special interest groups supporting Obamacare’s coercion is outraged at this suggestion. They profess to be shocked -- shocked! -- that anyone would say a family business has religious freedom. But these same groups apparently favor a legal regime that says for-profit corporations can be racial minorities and can exercise the most intimate and private constitutional “rights” to contraception and abortion. Their outrage is withheld until families in business claim to be religious.”
Hobby Lobby’s opponents know for-profit businesses are an influential social force. Scared of the prospect of not being able to smother all of society with their pro-contraceptive and pro-abortion views, Hobby Lobby’s opponents must find some distinction upon which to rest their hat -- in this case it just happens to be seeking a profit. Lacking a legitimate reason to deny American small business owners the right to exercise their faith, opponents find an easier time inferring such businesses are “bad” and entitled to less protection because they seek to make money. This claim looks increasingly desperate, however, in face of the fact that the businesses promoting the CSR practices discussed above are almost all very large, for-profit corporations. And no one takes issue with that.
Few have a problem with corporations being able to provide shoes for children, supply water for those who need it, provide special attention to their environment, and ensure their suppliers are not committing human rights abuses. Neither should there be any issue with a business being run according to the faith of its owners.
