The Case for the Inclusion of Employee Relations Matters in Mandatory Disclosure and Reporting Requirements for Public Corporations

Abstract

Public companies have no obligation to disclose and to report matters that pertain to equality in the workplace, the payment of wages and benefits, and health and safety issues—“employee relations matters”—under the current statutory and regulatory framework for the capital markets. The absence of this obligation significantly and glaringly handicaps shareholders and other market participants insofar as they are investing in public companies with a limited and distorted understanding of their operations that belies the historical and analytical justifications for mandatory disclosures and reporting. This Article posits that public corporations should publish information about employee relations matters because certain disclosure and reporting requirements already impliedly contemplate their publicization, it promotes the policy objectives that underlie these requirements, and it empowers shareholders and other market participants to make more fully informed decisions with respect to their investment activities.