Hello all,
My son and I noticed this paragraph on a LinkedIn job posting for an Actuary Analyst I posting by Lincoln Financial.
This position may be subject to Lincoln’s Political Contribution Policy. An offer of employment may be contingent upon disclosing to Lincoln the details of certain political contributions. Lincoln may decline to extend an offer or terminate employment for this role if it determines political contributions made could have an adverse impact on Lincoln’s current or future business interests, misrepresentations were made, or for failure to fully disclose applicable political contributions and or fundraising activities.
Here is a link for complete context.
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/jobs/view/457572349/
Do others work under such a condition? I never heard of such policies before. Is this something new? Are companies beginning to crack down on employee who contribute to certain political groups or organizations?
Could it be a conflict of interest issue?
I have not heard of this specific type of policy. I will keep my eyes open for more of these; the topic interests me personally and professionally (I work in a law-related field).
Since political contributions are in the public domain, it sounds like the company wants to avoid appearance of either being a conflict of interest or partial to a specific party or philosophy. I think we will see more of this in the future.
I work in financial services and that has always been the policy.
I’m a government employee and I can’t make political donations at all. Nor can I publicly support a candidate or party.
@1or2Musicians That is not a standard government employee policy on contributions. I’m absolutely not saying that isn’t your rules, but for the benefit of others, it isn’t standard across all govt agencies.
Public support of a candidate is restrictive, though normally in a manner that makes it clear that it is a personal position and doesn’t represent the federal government. For example a military member can attend a political rally for a politician or political cause in civilian attire but not in uniform. A service member can make a donation to a candidate but not make derogatory comments against the president. Wisdom says always err on the side of discretion.
This is very common at financial services companies. They do a lot of lobbying in DC and they carefully monitor all political contributions and any outside employment.
Oh, I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that all government entities have the same restrictions. Just that it’s not unheard of for jobs to come with these types of rules.
From people I’ve talked to at various types of public positions, it seems that it’s not uncommon for there to be some rules around political activity. But mine are more restrictive than many.
Ibr also known people with other (non-government) jobs who have restrictions on various types of political activity.
Interesting 1st Amendment issue.
It is an open secret in my state that applicants for certain state government jobs will be disqualified if they signed the recall petition for the sitting governor.
Agree, Sam. If money is speech…
Certainly you could argue that contributions to political groups/lobby groups are a form of free speech, and fall under the right to assemble. If a group to which you contribute seeks to lobby the government, it could also be argued that this is one way to petition the government and seek redress of grievances. If I was younger and less busy, this would be one windmill I might tilt at!
Generally at financial companies the big issue is if you contribute to someone who may be in a position to give business to your company. I used to work for a company that underwrote a large amount of municipal bonds. That was awhile ago, but my recollection is that I could give money to a city council candidate that I was voting for, but not too my buddy who is running for City Council in a different District. The problem was if I made such s contribution my employer was prohibited from bidding on work for that particular government entity for a certain number of years. So it was definitely a valid business consideration to restrict our contributions.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think I was restricted on making contributions to races I was allowed to vote in. I did have to report them though.
first amendment issue, Sam? (post 9) How so?
I see the amendment says the Fed gov’t cannot restrict speech, but where does it say employers can’t?