employee-owned engineering company

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

An employee-owned engineering company selling electric-grid protection and automation products, with infrastructure value and limited democratic governance. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories lands in the middle because ownership is comparatively aligned and the model leaves more value with stakeholders, but person-dependent governance prevents a stronger rating.

Why this matters: Infrastructure suppliers affect public systems and should be compared with ordinary shareholder firms.

Letter grade D Extractive High confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1 Last reviewed May 6, 2026

Final Score 33* D - Extractive

DEXTRACTIVE33 pts

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

Base Material43

Bonus+0

Cap66No structure cap

After Cap43

Penalties-10

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Evaluation Overview

D - Extractive

The score turns mainly on Ownership, with the largest penalty coming from Reversibility.

Strengths

Ownership6/10
Extraction6/10
Labor Sovereignty5/7

Penalties

Reversibility-5
Policy Capture-5

Evidence state

ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessPartial (AI)
Linked claims12
Direct axis claims11
Coverage11/11

Scoring Axes

Axis	Score	Why this score
Ownership ? Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control at 10.	6 / 10	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the middle of Ownership: there is some mission, member, producer, or public-interest constraint, but decisive control is not fully democratic. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 125 scored entries below, 20 tied, 81 above on Ownership. Linked evidence Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1]
Governance ? Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic stakeholder control at 10.	4 / 10	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the middle of Governance: there are accountability mechanisms, but they stop short of broad democratic control. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 108 scored entries below, 18 tied, 100 above on Governance. Linked evidence context Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1] SEL states that it is 100 percent employee owned, giving employees a material ownership stake while not establishing a one-worker-one-vote cooperative governance structure. [2]
Extraction ? Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured extraction judgment.	6 / 10	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the middle of Extraction: the institution creates real value but still leaves room for rent extraction, unequal bargaining, or surplus capture. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 115 scored entries below, 24 tied, 87 above on Extraction. Linked evidence context Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1] SEL's 100 percent employee ownership routes enterprise value toward employees rather than outside shareholders in an electric power systems manufacturing business. [3]
Labor Sovereignty ? Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at 7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling, retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of worker voice, or extreme turnover.	5 / 7	SEL presents employee ownership as part of its company model, which strengthens worker economic participation but does not establish full cooperative governance. SEL presents employee ownership as part of its company model, which strengthens worker economic participation but does not establish full cooperative governance. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the middle of Labor Sovereignty: workers or participants have some protection or agency, but not enough binding power to control the relationship. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 152 scored entries below, 40 tied, 34 above on Labor Sovereignty. Linked evidence context Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1] SEL presents employee ownership as part of its company model, which strengthens worker economic participation but does not establish full cooperative governance. [4]
Solidarity with the Unemployed ? Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment, and non-competes.	4 / 7	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the middle of Solidarity with the Unemployed: some access, severance, retraining, openness, or mutual-aid value is present, but it is not central or durable. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 127 scored entries below, 30 tied, 69 above on Solidarity with the Unemployed. Linked evidence context Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1] SEL designs and supports electric power system protection and automation products, giving public infrastructure value while not documenting broad protections for people outside current employees and customers. [5]
Loss-Bearing Fidelity ? Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and public obligations.	5 / 7	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the middle of Loss-Bearing Fidelity: there is some willingness to preserve obligations, but the record still leaves meaningful risk-shifting concerns. The value stays below the top tier because the linked record does not show full democratic control, non-extractive lock-in, or complete stakeholder protection on this axis. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 119 scored entries below, 43 tied, 64 above on Loss-Bearing Fidelity. Linked evidence context Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1] SEL's employee ownership and power-system support model tie product obligations to an employee-owned manufacturer rather than short-term shareholder extraction. [6]
Market Conduct ? Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.	4 / 5	SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories high on Market Conduct: pricing, access, switching, and bargaining practices show restraint compared with ordinary rent-seeking competitors. A still-higher or maximum value requires stronger proof that this structure is durable, broad, and not merely discretionary. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 106 scored entries below, 73 tied, 47 above on Market Conduct. Linked evidence context SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. [7] SEL sells protection, automation, and control products for electric power systems, serving critical infrastructure customers through a specialized employee-owned model. [8]
Product Integrity ? Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.	5 / 5	SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. That places Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories high on Product Integrity: the core offering is genuinely useful and comparatively less dependent on traps, degradation, or harmful dependencies. A still-higher or maximum value requires stronger proof that this structure is durable, broad, and not merely discretionary. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 134 scored entries below, 92 tied, 0 above on Product Integrity. Linked evidence SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. [7]
Scale Integrity ? Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.	4 / 5	SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 109 scored entries below, 81 tied, 36 above on Scale Integrity. Linked evidence context SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control. [7] SEL's employee-owned model has scaled into critical power-system infrastructure without becoming a public shareholder-controlled company. [9]

Penalties

Penalty	Applied	Why this penalty
Reversibility ? Applied when positive conduct depends on current living leaders, founders, family owners, or other person-contingent governance rather than durable structure. Range: -5 to 0.	-5	Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories's favorable conduct depends partly on current leaders, founders, family owners, executive discretion, or other person-contingent control rather than a fully locked democratic stakeholder-control structure. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories's favorable conduct depends partly on current leaders, founders, family owners, executive discretion, or other person-contingent control rather than a fully locked democratic stakeholder-control structure. That warrants a severe Reversibility penalty because favorable conduct depends on current people or discretionary leadership rather than locked stakeholder structure. The value is near the floor because the conduct appears central, large-scale, repeated, or institutionally powerful rather than incidental. Calibration notes Comparative anchor: Column-spectrum position: 0 scored entries below, 95 tied, 131 above on Reversibility. Linked evidence context Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned. [1] Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories's favorable conduct depends partly on current leaders, founders, family owners, executive discretion, or other person-contingent control rather than a fully locked democratic stakeholder-control structure. [10]
Policy Capture ? Private-interest attempts to bend law, regulation, subsidies, taxes, enforcement, trade, labor, safety, competition, environmental, healthcare, housing, surveillance, civil-liberties, or consumer policy against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, or ecological life. Public-interest advocacy is not penalized merely because it is lobbying. Range: -15 to 0.	-5	OpenLobby records SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC. lobbying on trade, aviation, energy, immigration, labor, consumer protection, and other issues with about $1.2M in spending… OpenLobby records SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC. lobbying on trade, aviation, energy, immigration, labor, consumer protection, and other issues with about $1.2M in spending across 29 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role. That warrants a limited Policy Capture penalty because private institutional pressure is being applied to public rules while affected people cannot democratically govern that agenda. The value is limited because the linked record shows a real problem but not one that dominates the profile on this axis. Linked evidence OpenLobby records SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC. lobbying on trade, aviation, energy, immigration, labor, consumer protection, and other issues with about $1.2M in spending across 29 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role. [12]

Bonus Credits

No bonus credits applied in this version.

Confidence Basis

Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.

High 80/100

12 verified linked claims 11 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 11/11 components covered

This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.

Claim confidence 16/20

12 verified linked claims

Source quality 11/18

Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability

Direct axis-specific claims 14/18

11 direct claims across 11 active components

Dispute load 12/12

0 disputed claims on this entity

Recency 10/10

Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026

Reviewer status 7/12

Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding

Component coverage 10/10

11/11 evidence-bearing components have direct support

Evidence State

Profile stateAI draft / human-pending

VerificationUnverified

ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)

ThoroughnessPartial (AI)

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Claims and Sources

Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

1Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories states that it is 100 percent employee owned.

Ownership Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 5, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%

2SEL states that it is 100 percent employee owned, giving employees a material ownership stake while not establishing a one-worker-one-vote cooperative governance structure.

Governance Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%
SEL employee ownershipOfficial self-description · 68%

3SEL's 100 percent employee ownership routes enterprise value toward employees rather than outside shareholders in an electric power systems manufacturing business.

Extraction Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL employee ownershipOfficial self-description · 68%

4SEL presents employee ownership as part of its company model, which strengthens worker economic participation but does not establish full cooperative governance.

Labor Sovereignty Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 5, 2026

SEL employee ownershipOfficial self-description · 68%

5SEL designs and supports electric power system protection and automation products, giving public infrastructure value while not documenting broad protections for people outside current employees and customers.

Solidarity Unemployed Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%

6SEL's employee ownership and power-system support model tie product obligations to an employee-owned manufacturer rather than short-term shareholder extraction.

Loss Bearing Fidelity Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL employee ownershipOfficial self-description · 68%
SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%

7SEL designs, manufactures, and supports products for electric power system protection, automation, and control.

Product Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 5, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL solutionsGeneral web source · 58%

8SEL sells protection, automation, and control products for electric power systems, serving critical infrastructure customers through a specialized employee-owned model.

Market Conduct Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%

9SEL's employee-owned model has scaled into critical power-system infrastructure without becoming a public shareholder-controlled company.

Scale Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 13, 2026

AI scaffold

SEL employee ownershipOfficial self-description · 68%
SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%

10Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories's favorable conduct depends partly on current leaders, founders, family owners, executive discretion, or other person-contingent control rather than a fully locked democratic stakeholder-control structure.

Reversibility Verified Medium confidence Human-reviewed May 5, 2026

SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%

11Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories's public materials state a mission, values, ownership model, advocacy role, or institutional standpoint plainly enough that this record does not identify penalty-level neutrality theater.

Ideological Disavowal Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 9, 2026

AI scaffold

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories official siteGeneral web source · 58%
SEL companyGeneral web source · 58%
SEL solutionsGeneral web source · 58%

12OpenLobby records SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC. lobbying on trade, aviation, energy, immigration, labor, consumer protection, and other issues with about $1.2M in spending across 29 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role.

Policy Capture Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending May 11, 2026

AI scaffold

OpenLobby — SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC. lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%

Alternatives

AGOOD58 Isthmus Engineering worker cooperative engineering firm · same market AGOOD55 New Era Windows worker cooperative manufacturer · same market BQUALIFIED49 MONDRAGON Corporation cooperative federation · Spain BQUALIFIED42 Scott Bader commonwealth-owned chemical company · United Kingdom

Competitors

AGOOD58 Isthmus Engineering worker cooperative engineering firm · same market AGOOD55 New Era Windows worker cooperative manufacturer · same market DEXTRACTIVE23 Recology employee-owned resource recovery company · same market DEXTRACTIVE12 W. L. Gore & Associates private employee-owned company · same market DEXTRACTIVE9 Henkel public consumer brands and adhesives company · same market DEXTRACTIVE5 Church & Dwight public household and personal-care manufacturer · same market DEXTRACTIVE5 Colgate-Palmolive public oral-care and consumer-products company · same market DEXTRACTIVE4 SC Johnson private household-products manufacturer · same market

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Audit Log

Recent public changes for this company or group. The full audit log is part of the Transparency record.

May 6, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC ai-scaffolding toxic-products-assessment

Added tentative AI-generated Toxic Products penalty 0 and directory value for current toxic, addictive, pesticide, livestock, chemical, or consumer-safety product exposure.

May 6, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC ai-scaffolding confidence-calibration

Rechecked evidence coverage and source quality during the evaluation-quality pass; confidence now reflects direct source coverage, complexity, and remaining uncertainty rather than score direction.

May 5, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC ai-scaffolding ai-scaffolding-score

Added tentative AI-generated claim-backed score components for a previously listed under-review company or group.

View Full Audit Log