CEOs lose their jobs all the time, but few produce a political backlash like last year’s ouster of Brandon Eich, whose personal donation to a campaign to block same-sex marriage in California cost him his post at Web browser giant Mozilla.
Now a Washington-based free market think tank is putting the question of corporate policies versus free speech to other top companies, with a mission to push American corporations to amend their human resources policies to better protect employees from political discrimination.
“As it stands in America, half of American workers live in a jurisdiction where there is zero statutory protection,” Justin Danhof, director of the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research, said in an interview. “So if you’re a big Hillary [Rodham Clinton] supporter and your boss is a Rand [Paul] guy, he could fire you simply for that, and you have no legal recourse.”
In the wake of the Eich incident, the think tank discovered that most companies don’t have specific provisions in their human resources policies that protect employees from being fired, demoted or otherwise disenfranchised for their personal, off-the-job political activities.
Legal analysts say California has some of the toughest statutes on the books protecting employees from retaliation or dismissal for private political speech. Because Mr. Eich resigned “voluntarily,” the law did not apply in his case despite reports of intense pressure from Mozilla’s board.
Mr. Eich, a Silicon Valley star who created the JavaScript programming language, stepped down as CEO of Mozilla a year ago after the outcry and threats of boycotts from gay rights groups became too intense for him to be “an effective leader.”
Mr. Danhof has been attending annual shareholder meetings across the country to pressure corporations to re-examine their policies and provide greater free speech protections. While most companies, including Visa, PepsiCo Inc., and General Electric Co. were willing to amend their policies, others, including giant retailer Costco and farm equipment maker John Deere, refused.
Executives at Costco and John Deere went to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after being approached by Mr. Danhof. The companies argued that their employee policies were issues for management, not stockholders, to decide, and therefore shouldn’t be included on their shareholder meeting agendas. The SEC agreed, essentially blocking debate among shareholders from the debate.
“What were they fighting for?” Mr. Danhof asked. “The right to retain the ability to demote fire or otherwise disenfranchise and employee for his or her political beliefs? That’s what they spent money to fight against.”
Company spokesman Eric Hodson, in an emailed statement, said Mr. Danhof had given a “false impression of Deere’s position on this matter.”
During John Deere’s annual shareholder meeting last month, CEO Sam Allen argued that the company’s policies do protect employees from political discrimination and said management plans to re-examine its policies to ensure protection is assured for all employees.
Costco didn’t return calls for comment.
Although many managers and boards promise they won’t punish employees for political activities and views expressed on their own time, critics like Mr. Danhof argue that without a written policy there is no way to be sure that’s the case.
Not having such policies in writing also could pressure workers to refrain from engaging in civic activities such as door-to-door campaigning, volunteering for campaigns or even voting, for fear of losing their jobs in an unsteady economy, he said.
Conservatives under fire
In liberal enclaves such as Silicon Valley, it is typically conservatives who face discrimination for their political views at work, a dynamic highlighted by the incident with Mr. Eich at Mozilla.
Costco, in particular, is seen as a political company, often praised by President Obama and his administration. When the discount retailer opened its first store in the District of Columbia in November 2012, Vice President Joseph R. Biden made a high-profile visit for the grand opening, flashing his Costco card and chatting with Costco CEO Craig Jelinek and co-founder Jim Sinegal.
In the 2012 presidential election season, 97 percent of the individual political contributions made by Costco workers went to Democratic candidates, according to Federal Election Commission data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.
In congressional midterm campaigns last year, 98 percent of individual contributions went to Democrats and just one, a $500 contribution, went to a Republican House candidate — Carl Demaio in California. Susan Brotman, the wife of Costco co-founder Jeffrey Brotman, was an Obama “bundler” of major campaign donations.
In July, Costco found itself in the partisan crossfire again for abruptly pulling conservative author Dinesh D’Souza’s book, “America: Imagine A World Without Her,” from store shelves, despite high sales.
The company later insisted on its Facebook page that “politics or controversy over content” played no role in the removal.
“Costco is not a book store. Our book shelf space is very limited. We can’t carry every title that our members are interested in reading,” the store said.
But after a major public outcry — a sharp spike in sales for Mr. D’Souza’s work, Costco restocked the book.
“This fear people have of retaining their jobs is very real, and it could extend to people disengaging in the community,” Mr. Danhof said.
He said he has approached company leaders on the issue many times.
“Their first reaction is, ‘Well, I think we have protections like that, but I’m not exactly sure.’ If you’re not sure, how could the guy making $9 an hour at a cash register possibly know?”
Mr. Danhof has submitted shareholder proposals to nearly two dozen major corporations and generally has been met with strong support. He hopes other companies will soon follow suit.
“Through our project, we have protected now millions of American workers that didn’t have any sort of protection. We’re hoping to have a continued domino effect,” Mr. Danhof said.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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