Presidential race complicates office politics

The topic of the close presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain may create some uncomfortable workplace conversations. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

Q. I work for a small nonprofit agency. Our boss has made no secret of her support of one of the presidential candidates, and has even asked the staff to join her at a fund-raising event for her candidate. She says that unless this candidate is elected, our funding is in jeopardy. We all feel pressured to go to the event, even though it's expensive, and most of us can't afford it. I don't know what to do, especially because I think I'm the only one in the group who doesn't even support this candidate.

A. Your boss's enthusiasm for her candidate of choice has clouded her good judgment.

She may not realize how uncomfortable her "invitation" is making some of the staff feel.

She certainly has no right to pressure you to attend a nonwork related event, or to force you to support any presidential candidate.

I suggest that you simply thank your boss for inviting you, and say that, unfortunately, you are unable to attend the event. You owe your boss no further explanation.

It's not unlikely that there will be considerable conversation about politics in this election year.

If you don't want to join the conversation, you can remain silent, indicate that your political beliefs are personal, and/or try to redirect the conversation to a more neutral topic, such as movies or sports.

If your boss continues to hound you to make a donation to her candidate's campaign, you may want to discuss the situation with someone in employee relations. Pressuring you to donate to a presidential candidate seems to border on abuse of power.

For a while, you may feel like you are being ignored or ostracized by your boss and/or your co-workers, especially if you do end up being the only employee who doesn't attend the fund-raising event. Remember that this will pass soon - at the latest, on Nov. 5.

Your question is a good reminder to employers and employees alike that our mothers were right - steer clear of talking about politics, religion, and sex in polite society - and, I'll add, in the workplace.

So what about when your employer calls during off-shift hours (say on a Saturday or Sunday at 2 a.m.) demanding you work immediately, and then later in the week demands that you leave work early so that you don't exceed 40 hours? It's already become clear our employer will do this at will to avoid paying overtime.

A. If your employer is in the habit of calling you at 2 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday to work, I think that it's time to start looking for a new employer. If your employer's manipulation of your schedule becomes intolerable to you, then it's time to move on.

Your employer has made the effort to follow the law, according to Daniel S. Field, an employment attorney with Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP. The overtime law was designed to discourage people from regularly working more than 40 hours per week, and to reward those who occasionally do work more than 40 hours, Field said. Although your employer's actions are not illegal (unless the employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement), they seem, however, extreme, unfair, and unreasonable. Your employer appears to be acting with blatant disregard for employee morale in order to manipulate employee hours and control expenses. On the other hand, you and your co-workers all do still have jobs, in a time of rising unemployment.

Disrupting the normal workweek by forcing employees to work erratic, alternate shifts without paying overtime seems senseless from a business perspective, abusive from a humanitarian one. If this practice becomes the norm rather than the exception, your employer may be in danger of creating a decline not only in employee retention and morale, but also in productivity and profits. A more sane cost-cutting approach would seem to be to abolish overtime and consultants or to resort to judicious layoffs, if necessary.

If your company is truly in trouble financially, I can't help but wonder if your employer has instituted this bizarre behavior to force some employees to quit - thus both cutting his payroll expenses and saving him from paying unemployment benefits. As a way to save your own sanity and your wallet, I suggest that you start looking for another employer.

A. I can understand your concern about wanting to avoid having a gap in employment on your resume. It would be wonderful, of course, if you could cover the period of your severance by saying "to present," but I doubt that you will be able to honestly write that.

What you write on your resume depends in large part on what your employer will say when they are contacted about you. You want what you say on your resume to match what the employer will say about you. Check with human resources to find out what date they are listing as your last day of work. Unless you (and your attorney) worked out something else as part of your separation agreement from the company, I assume that date will be the last day you actually worked, rather than the date of your last severance check,

To minimize the possible negative impact that a gap in employment will have on your job search, I suggest that you rely on networking as the key component of your search. When you network, you can bypass using your resume as a screening tool. Instead, start contacting the people whom you know in your field, explain that your noncompete is about to end, and that you would like to talk with them about future opportunities. You can contact them initially via e-mail or telephone, then bring your resume with you to your face-to-face meeting. The people who are your network contacts in your field will clearly understand why you have not been working since 2007 when you explain about your noncompete agreement.

Even on the occasions when you do have to use your resume, remember that if you have a strong track record of continuous employment, a single gap in employment should not prevent employers from interviewing you. When you have a strong prior record of accomplishment, being unemployed is not the universal stigma for job seekers that it once was. Your challenge is to present yourself on your resume as a vibrant, well-qualified active applicant, not as someone with an extended period of unemployment.

You can minimize the possible negative impact of a gap by demonstrating to prospective employers that you have been engaged productively in the interim, not just collecting your severance checks and watching the calendar run out on your noncompete. Researching other options, professional development, networking, contract work for noncompetitors, volunteer and community work are a menu of possible "productive" activities.

The other key question an employer will need answered is, why did you leave your last job? What is your employer saying about your termination to future employment prospects? Did you, as part of your severance negotiations, work out an explanation for your termination that was satisfactory to both parties? If not, it's not too late to schedule a meeting with your former employer and do just that. You can indicate that you have been keeping your end of the agreement - by not seeking work with a competitor. As your noncompete agreement is ending soon, explain that you will be starting to interview, and that you want to ensure that there are no surprises or discrepancies in their story and yours. Once you are invited to interview, you can explain in a "no fault" way what happened on your last job. You won't have a chance to offer that explanation if you can't get past the initial screen.

Roni F. Noland is a career counselor/coach, educator and freelance journalist with 20+ years experience helping individuals find meaningful work. She can be reached at noland.roni@gmail.com.