Frank Morris, a Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Labor and Employment practices, in the Washington, DC, office, was quoted in an article titled "When the Boss Is on Team Romney."
Following is an excerpt:
David Siegel's political tactics made headlines this month when he sent thousands of employees an e-mail that promised dire consequences should Barack Obama win reelection. ?...
While Siegel is especially blunt about asking workers to vote for his man, he's not the only employer sharing his political preference with the folks on his payroll. ?...
Having a politically opinionated boss is nothing new. What distinguishes the recent spate of C-suite missives is the overt suggestion that people may risk voting themselves out of a job. ?...
Still, federal laws have made it practically impossible for people to shut the boss up. Besides allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts to support or defeat candidates, the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission also made it easier for companies to encourage workers to vote for a particular candidate. The boss could already try to sway workers by telling them where candidates stood on issues important to the company, but they can go further now that many limits on corporate campaign speech have been lifted. "That includes allowing employers to say which way they'd like individuals to vote," notes Frank Morris. ?...
"The discussions can get out of hand," Morris says. "We get a lot of calls from employers who want to prevent acrimony. They're worried about productivity and morale."
