The Boss Can Tell You to Show Up for a Trump Rally
Employers have a largely unconstrained ability to try to influence their workers’ political choices.
When President Donald Trump arrived in western Pennsylvania this month to give a speech about energy policy at a Royal Dutch Shell plant, he had a ready-made audience comprised of workers who, it turns out, were paid to be there. The company suggested that this event was simply a “training day” featuring an unusually prominent guest speaker, and offered that workers could take a day of paid time off instead of attending, which would mean they would lose overtime pay. That alternative may have been realistic for some workers, but others must have felt that the only option was to appear as a living backdrop for the president.
This example is unusually high-profile,
