Fair Pay & Worker Respect

The CEO's total compensation was 986 times greater than the median employee's annual pay of $16,688, based on 2020 data.

The company agreed to a $12 million settlement in 2024 to resolve widespread safety violations, including blocked exits and fire hazards, and committed to hiring safety managers, reducing inventory, and enhancing safety training. Additionally, a judge and the NLRB ruled in 2023 that the company violated labor law by threatening to close stores over unionization, surveilling employees, and unlawfully firing a pro-union worker.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Dollar General requires its suppliers to adhere to a Code of Conduct that prohibits child and forced labor, ensures fair wages, and mandates safe working conditions

. The company has also announced initiatives to enhance supplier diversity, focusing on removing barriers for minority- and women-owned businesses , including virtual meetings to facilitate new partnerships . However, investigations by China Labor Watch found poor working conditions, including excessive overtime and inadequate safety measures, among some Dollar General suppliers .

Honest & Fair Business

No specific, quantifiable evidence was found in the provided articles that directly maps to the defined quantitative thresholds for any of the KPIs under the 'Honest & Fair Business' value. Information regarding regulatory fines, such as the $12 million penalty from OSHA, was related to safety violations rather than ethics-related fines as defined by the rubric (fraud, opaque reporting, customer deception, anti-trust, or disclosure failures).

Allegations in lawsuits regarding financial projections or overcharging customers are not regulatory fines. , There was no data on transparency index scores, whistleblower policies, financial restatements, audit coverage percentages, ESG controversy scores, complaint resolution times, board conflict-free percentages, anti-corruption policy details, or third-party verification of ethical claims. While a human rights policy was mentioned, it did not specifically detail anti-corruption or anti-bribery measures as required by the KPI.

Kind to Animals

Dollar General withdrew its commitment to source 100% cage-free in-shell eggs by 2025 on December 8, 2023, and does not plan to establish a new goal.

For its private label brands, Root to End and Believe Beauty, products are vegan and cruelty-free, with a policy that neither ingredients nor finished products are tested on animals, and suppliers follow the same standard. In 2024, Dollar General transferred over 15,900 tons of expired dairy product for use as livestock feed. Since 2021, the company has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to restore over 605 acres of forest and planted over 319,200 trees. The company also planted over 12,500 trees in 2024 to protect monarch butterfly habitat in Mexico. The company also implemented a palm oil policy requiring vendors for private label products to source palm oil sustainably, in accordance with RSPO or equivalent standards.

No War, No Weapons

Dollar General's business model does not involve military production or contracts, resulting in 0% revenue from arms or defense.

The company explicitly states it does not contract to manufacture products covered by conflict minerals rules, nor does it import products from the Democratic Republic of the Congo region or the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Its direct import merchandise facilities are audited annually by an independent third-party firm based on International Labor Organization standards. In 2024, the factory audit pass rate for its Human Rights Policy, which includes a zero-tolerance policy against child labor, forced or slave labor, and worker discrimination/harassment, was 92.5% based on 976 audits. In 2022, the company donated approximately $18.1 million to food security, literacy, and Red Cross efforts, representing about 0.048% of its $37.8 billion net sales. The company requires vendors to adhere to global human rights standards and ILO conventions.

Planet-Friendly Business

No specific, quantifiable evidence was found in the provided articles that directly maps to the defined Key Performance Indicators for Planet-Friendly Business. The articles mention reduction goals for greenhouse gas emissions per square foot

and commitments regarding packaging recyclability and sustainable sourcing, but these do not provide the precise data points or verified achievements required by the rubric's quantitative thresholds for scoring any KPI.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

The company proposed building a store near a Native American burial mound and a historical battle site in Micanopy, Florida.

Despite opposition from the Florida Indigenous Alliance and local residents, who raised concerns about desecration, the development plan was approved. A request for an archaeological survey from the Florida Indigenous Alliance was reportedly ignored. This demonstrates a lack of a formal cultural impact assessment protocol, a failure of grievance mechanisms for community concerns, and a disregard for community participation in decision-making processes (FPIC). This also indicates a systematic dismissal of cultural incident concerns and constitutes one incident threatening a cultural or heritage site without active remediation. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's decision upholding tribal court jurisdiction over Dollar General on tribal lands, following allegations of sexual assault by a store manager against a tribal youth.

Safe & Smart Tech

A data breach occurred in January 2018, exposing 44 tax forms of 43 associates due to a service provider's misfaxing error.

No other data breaches are mentioned in the provided articles, indicating no breaches in the past 6 years. This incident falls outside the 3-year lookback period for negative scoring. The evidence supports the quantitative aspect of 'No breaches in past 2 years'.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Dollar General achieved a 66% landfill diversion rate in 2024 through reuse and recycling programs

. The company has implemented numerous waste reduction initiatives, including single-stream recycling programs at over 3,400 stores , organic waste programs in Vermont, California, and Austin, Texas , and a waste optimization program in 77 stores . Since 2008, over 3 million tons of cardboard have been recycled , along with 36,000 tons of mixed paper since 2010 , and 23,000 tons of plastic film since 2012 through 2023 . In 2023, Dollar General reduced milk waste by over 3,500 tons and diverted more than 13,000 tons of expired dairy from landfills , also donating over 38 million pounds of food through Feeding America since 2019 . Plastic bags offered to customers contain at least 10% recycled content . The company conducted over 1,100 visual waste audits at store locations in 2024 . Dollar General has implemented a restricted chemical policy, expanding its Restricted Substances List (RSL) to 19 chemicals , and joined the Chemical Footprint Project to identify safer alternatives . Additionally, it joined the 'Beyond the Bag' initiative as a lead partner to find sustainable alternatives for single-use plastic bags and engage shoppers in transforming the grocery transport system, promoting reusable bags . Suppliers are required to adhere to Dollar General's packaging and shipping guidelines to minimize damage and waste .