When Your Political Views Land You in the Unemployment Line

A conservative think tank is putting pressure on Starbucks to protect employees who engage in political activity outside of work.

Justin Danhof, general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, presented an employee protection resolution to Starbucks shareholders at the annual meeting in Seattle on Wednesday.

"Many regions with Starbucks employees lack legal protection for a worker that is terminated for his political activities," said Danhof.

Danhof told CBN News that Starbucks shareholders did not pass the resolution but that the company is still actively considering the policy.

The center says 13 major corporations have already adopted the proposal as part of their official employee policies. They include Wal-Mart, General Electric, Time Warner, PepsiCo and Home Depot.

The center says an incident at Mozilla prompted it to create the Employee Conscience Protection Project. Mozilla forced CEO Brendan Eich out of his new job in April 2014 after learning that he donated to a 2008 California measure that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

Danhof says roughly one half of American workers live in jurisdictions where they do not have statutory protection against employer retaliation for their political activities outside of work.

Additionally, many companies do not offer the protection as part of their corporate policy.