[misc.legal] Charitable contributions solicited by employer

mjw@naples.UUCP (Matthew Waugh) (10/14/86)

In article <2268@j.cc.purdue.edu>, rsk@j.cc.purdue.edu (Wombat-Nose) writes:
> I'm just curious what other folks think of this situation, either
> on constitutional or statuatory grounds.  Here's the hypothetical:
> 
> An employer annually solicits contributions from its employees for a
> certain charity organization.  It does so by sending each employee (via
> internal mail, i.e. at the workplace) a form which the employee must
> fill out stating either the amount of their contribution [which may be
> payroll-deducted] or "no contribution." Employees are required (by the
> employer) to return these forms.  The employer is a state agency funded
> by the legislature.
> 
> Is this legal under federal law?  Is it constitutional?  Can the

For those that are "in the know" on this sort of law, consider the
case of the division of a major corporation that boasts of having
a 100% contribution rate to a certain charitable organisation.

They achieve this remarkable feat by sending each employee a statement
telling them their annual salary, and how much as a percentage they
are expected to contribute. Those that indicate that they do not
wish to contribute are morally blackmailed through 4 levels of
managment, involving "interviews" with the managers concerned. To
my knowledge nobody has managed to resist beyond the 3rd level.
At each level threats about "ranking" and "placed on record" are
implied, of course all the "interviews" are one-on-one, so where
are your witnesses?

Is this legal? Is it constitutional? You bet it isn't!

Disclaimer: "I know who this company is, but this article doesn't
	     tell you!"
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
UUCP   : {ihnp4|mtuxo}!naples!mjw	Matthew Waugh
ATTMAIL: attmail!mjw			AT&T IS, Lincroft, N.J.
                        		Telephone : (201) 576-3362