The partner who supervises me at my office is very outspoken in his politics. He has a bumper sticker on his car, proclaiming his position on abortion and the right to choose. He regularly states his opinion of the current administration and the parties that dominate the federal political scene.
Yesterday, he came to me with a request that I sign a petition. As he did, he made a comment about being my employer.
I found this pretty disturbing.
I read over the petition, and decided that I could not, in good conscience, support it. If the petition gathered enough signatures to make it onto the ballot, and were passed, it would change the method of redistricting in California, and would restrict who may participate in the process. While Gerrymandering is a problem, codifying into law a prohibition against certain people being able to participate is wrong in my view.
The attorneys at my firm are all politically active, at least to some degree. The attorney in one office next to mine asked if I wanted an Obama bumper sticker for my car. Another attorney regularly makes statements of disgust with liberal politicians, and praise for conservatives. But asking me to sign a petition, coupled with a reference to being my boss, I think was inappropriate. I don't think he would take adverse action against me for declining to sign, but I am very uncomfortable with the position I've been put in.
Am I overreacting? Or am I right to think that he should not have done this?
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3 comments:
Those of us who work for the state are regularly given ethics training on this sort of thing. The scenario you describe would be the poster child for a complaint to the ethics officer, and the person with the petition would risk termination. However, since this is a private employer, you may not have the same protections. Either way, it was DEFINITELY inappropriate.
Gah! Hello set-up for employment retaliation! I can't believe your boss is so clueless as to link continued beneficial employment and political action. I'm seriously hoping said partner begins contemplating actual retirement sooner rather than later, before he becomes a true liability to the firm.
I agree with amy and qir, that said partner definitely crossed a line. Of course, the real question is what you want to do about it. If it makes you really uncomfortable and you have concerns that the behavior is likely to recur, you have to decide if you want to address it with another partner (possibly the managing partner), just quietly live with it or seek other employment. It's difficult to tell from a blog post, but it sounds as though the overall atmosphere of the firm accepts a lot of political talk (though this is clearly more than that), so you should give some thought to what kind of reaction you'll receive if you choose to address the issue, and whether you care if others are difficult about it. While I don't think you should have to worry about reprisals for addressing a legitimate issue, it happens. All things to think about.
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