# Employer really pushing for United Way. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361 "2009-09-16T21:03:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/41 "2009-09-17T18:08:17Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > The rub is that the threats are implicit and contextual: “The CEO and [terrifying HR head] took time from their busy days to discuss this with me…”, “I’m so disappointed about the particiation rate…”, “We are all so fortunate to have jobs…”, “In these hard times many people are out of work right here in OKC…”, “Maybe you have friends who have been helped by UW…”, “Good community relations help the financial health of our company…”. > > All of these kinds of statements are likely objectively true and if pressed on it, management could simply say that people were being paranoid. There is no quid pro quo in any of it. The fact that it comes from a corporate officer who could destroy your life with a single word is what makes it sound bad. > > I’d call it unpleasant and not nice but not unlawful. It seems carefully scripted to run up to the line, but never over. Very similar to what they do with PAC donations. My advice then would have to be: Smile and nod at the intimidation meetings, then quietly slide the quasi-threatening e-mails into a saved folder. If a boss approaches _you_ specifically and asks why you haven’t contributed, your proper response is “none of your business,” but of course phrased more like “I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable discussing my personal finances.” Then meticulously document any and all future contact on the subject, just in case something does happen to you. Short of giving in and contributing (which I wouldn’t do just on principle, but then I can be a stubborn bastard), that’s the best I got. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/42 "2009-09-17T18:22:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What sort of employers are these? I’ve never worked anywhere where it was even suggested that the employees give to Charity X, let alone practically forced at gunpoint to do so. Some companies, while seemingly perfectly normal from the outside, have a strange fixation on controlling the employees lives both inside and outside of the workplace. Is it a peculiarity of a particular school of management? The result over overpromoting a bunch of busybodies? Megalomania brought on by an abundance of yes-men? Hard to say. Nevertheless, some employers, great and small, want to influence ‘their people’ in what they consider to be positive ways. Where you live, your after work hangouts, your choice of friends, your kids school, your car insurance company, your doctors, your vacation destination. Sometimes everything. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/43 "2009-09-17T18:39:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What sort of employers are these? I’ve never worked anywhere where it was even suggested that the employees give to Charity X, let alone practically forced at gunpoint to do so. Seriously. I work for a non-profit\*, and our higher-ups would be pissed if we tried to strong-arm people (employees or not) into giving. We do have UW giving this time of year, but it’s extremely low-key, if it wasn’t for the single e-mail saying “hey, we’re doing this right now!”, and the occassional sign, I wouldn’t even know about it. \*One the UW doesn’t donate to. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/44 "2009-09-17T18:46:47Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > The United Way claims to frown upon pressure tactics like this. Maybe it would be worth forwarding some of these emails to them (make sure you do it anonymously, though), and suggesting that they look into it. > > Of course, despite their claims to frown on it, i wouldn’t be surprised if they really don’t give a fuck, because the more pressure the corporate suits put on their employees, the more money UW gets. First, email HR and tell then that you are VERY uncomfortable at the tone of thr corporate emails to donate, and explain that you have your own charities. If you get more emails, forward the whole mess to United Way and the Labor Board for your state, and whichever state department licenses charities and CC human resources on it. I had one HR try leaning on me, telling me I didnt know what UW did, and how wonderful they were and I NEEDED to donate … so I tossed down the fact that my dad had been on the board of directors for them for his locality for years and I more than knew about them and to stop leaning on me or I would go to the state labor board about it … it stopped instantly. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/45 "2009-09-17T19:10:10Z")
We have a different type of Combined Charities where we can select from a list or we can get the Tax Id for our own charity and it will be deducted from our check. A year after I made my donation to a charity I got the information for (we did get an email from the City Manager asking us to donate at least a dollar for percentage of participation) I got a call from the organization that sent out the checks to the specific charity, stating that none of the checks had been cashed. I called the charity, and they stated that on the back of the checks was a statement that by endorsing and depositing the checks they swore that they supported the Patriot Act and all the BS that entails. So they weren’t cashing them. I didn’t blame them. The next time the job asked me to pony up, I wrote that up and stapled it to the form and sent it over. As the City Council of my illustrious city employer has condemned the Patriot act, I figured it would be accepted well. They walked back across the street and told me they didn’t care about why I didn’t want to, would I please just sign the form that I didn’t want to participate. They knew I was a little strange already, but that gave them another dose. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/46 "2009-09-17T19:19:32Z")
Years ago I worked for a place that was UW crazy. I blew off the meeting so they didn’t get a card filled out from me. They put new cards in my mail box and on my desk. They sent me numerous emails and voice mails. They even called the people who sat next to me to “remind” me to fill out the form. Finally, the person running the UW campaign showed up at my desk and stood there intending not to leave until I filled out the form. I told her that we would have to continue this conversation with the head of HR. That got her to back down. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/47 "2009-09-18T02:00:26Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > First, email HR and tell then that you are VERY uncomfortable at the tone of thr corporate emails to donate, and explain that you have your own charities. If you get more emails, forward the whole mess to United Way and the Labor Board for your state, and whichever state department licenses charities and CC human resources on it. > > . Don’t do this. You’ll be labeled as “not a team player”. In many “at will” states they can simply let you go.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/48 "2009-09-18T03:46:59Z")
All at-will states. However, if you’ve got evidence that you’ve been coerced into donating in writing- such as the e-mails described above- you’ve got a pretty good basis for a wrongful termination suit. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/49 "2009-09-18T03:55:54Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’d suggest reading [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=272996) thread, one of my favorites of all time. I’m really flattered as this was my thread. But the TRUE BELIEVER turned it from the humdrum to the sublime. And again this year we’re in the middle of the UW campaign. And they’ve gotten even smarter. Now they’ve convinced the company to hold a huge raffle. A bunch of employees in each department go out and buy stuff; each department bundles the stuff into “gift baskets”, and they raffle off the gift baskets – to the same employees by and large. It is a HUGE waste of time and money and effort. It has got to be the most inefficient way of raising money ever conceived of. Some of these baskets have nearly a thousand dollars worth of stuff in them, and they will probably sell less than 500 dollars worth of tickets for any given basket. Not to mention the very large amount of on-the-clock emplyee time for all the logistics, and then the UW takes its nearly 20% cut… If the company really wanted to make a difference in the community, they could simply offer a match of employee donations to any charity of their choice, upon being presented evidence of the amount the employee donated. But no, they have to enter the corporate dick measuring contest. Just pisses me off to no end… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/50 "2009-09-18T06:01:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If the company really wanted to make a difference in the community, they could simply offer a match of employee donations to any charity of their choice, upon being presented evidence of the amount the employee donated. But no, they have to enter the corporate dick measuring contest.. This is exactly what they do at my company. I don’t think that any of it goes to the United Way although it could. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/51 "2009-09-18T15:04:41Z")
Another flier in my snail mail box today. Are they going to start doing this crap everyday? Please stop. I haven’t gotten any annoying/threatening e-mails about it today yet, but it’s still early. I promise you all that I will receive at least two before the day is over. I’m not sure how exactly our “YOU BETTA GIVE SOME MONEY!” campaign works here (since it’s bullshit), but I think they match our contributions to United Way only. We can donate to whoever we want, but they sell pretty hard for UW. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/52 "2009-09-18T15:16:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > All at-will states. > > However, if you’ve got evidence that you’ve been coerced into donating in writing- such as the e-mails described above- you’ve got a pretty good basis for a wrongful termination suit. No offfense intended, but I’d rather have an irritating job than a chance at a lawsuit. Especially considering I could forget about working in this industry ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/53 "2009-09-18T15:30:22Z")
Sure. I’m not suggesting you sue, or anything, just pointing out what your recourse would be if you were terminated for not ponying up. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361/54 "2009-09-19T00:50:34Z")
> [@gurujulp](#): > > I called the charity, and they stated that on the back of the checks was a statement that by endorsing and depositing the checks they swore that they supported the Patriot Act and all the BS that entails. So they weren’t cashing them. > > I didn’t blame them. What charitable organization does this, and why would a city be using some kind of “donation handler” like this. If there is such an org it should be exposed so that everyone knows that they are trying to force compliance with a political agenda with their donations. Bet 75% of the donors would evaporate overnight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employer-really-pushing-for-united-way-why/510361.md?page=2)