See's Candies not Sweet on Lesbian and Gay Employee Benefits

San Francisco's Union Square See’s Candies kiosk “was not providing all of the same benefits for domestic partners that it does for spouses,” according to the San Francisco Examiner. The California-based candy company also opted to not update its policy in compliance with the city's calls for lesbian and gay domestic partner benefits, and thus vacated.

See’s Candies, per its website “are well known and loved throughout the West where the company was founded in 1921. See’s is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.”

Jordan Krueger, of grassroots activist organization Equality Network, contacted See’s, using its Customer Service phone number from the listing on their website, and requested to speak with someone about the closing of the Union Square location. A representative named Jessica informed him of the press release they had prepared and offered to read it. Krueger also received an email of the statement, as follows: 

“See’s Candies was mentioned in an article in the San Francisco Examiner written by Katie Worth that was published on June 19, 2009. We first learned of the article on Monday June 22nd. The article is factually untrue and the inaccuracies are being addressed with the Examiner to solicit a retraction. For years See’s Candies has provided domestic partner benefits including health insurance, with some of these benefits negotiated in labor agreements with unions representing See’s workers. These benefits continue to be offered today to union and non-union employees of See’s. Recently, our Union Square location lease was taken over by the City of San Francisco who has additional requirements for benefits beyond those offered by See’s. As any change to the benefits offered would require opening all related union contracts for negotiation, and the added benefits required were relatively minor and not consistent with our overall benefit plan, See’s attempted to seek a compromise with the City on its required benefit package. Unable to agree, and not wishing to renegotiate the union benefits offered to a single store in San Francisco, we elected to not renew our Union Square lease when it expired. See’s was not 'evicted,' and we do offer health and welfare coverage for domestic partners on the same basis as for spouses. The allegations in the article were not discussed with See’s prior to the article being run.

We hope this story will soon be retracted. Thank you for your interest in See’s Candies.

Diane Ihrig (ackreply@sees.com)?

See’s Candies?Consumer Affairs Department”

To learn the exact requirements from the city of San Francisco, Krueger called the city and found out the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement is the department handling the matter, and left a voicemail. He also called Donna Levitt, the department’s Division Manager, but has not heard back from either office.

Seth Fowler noted on Twitter that See’s website does not mention anything about Sexual Orientation on their Careers page. See below:

“See’s Candies is dedicated to providing a positive work environment where each individual is challenged to achieve their best. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we welcome applications from qualified candidates without regard to race, gender, ethnicity, disability, or religious preference.”

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