Short version:

Short version:

The CEO of the non-profit I work for just said I'm not allowed to volunteer my time doing work that could be construed as policy work. Can they do that, legally?

Long version:

I work for a non-profit that is government-adjacent, meaning the government funds a non-profit that runs my organization under a special agreement. For the sake of this discussion and for my anonymity, let's say that my organization is a maritime history museum. This maritime history museum has an organizational responsibility toward policy (as in actually lobbying the government) related to grocery store shipping containers, but that's not the function of my job.

I have many years of experience in policy for maritime matters but for cargo ships. Related because cargo ships happen to carry grocery store shipping containers, but broader. So I volunteer my time to another non-profit helping them with grassroots efforts (things like public events and proclamations, press releases, etc.). This has never been a secret and in fact, was on my resume when I was hired at my current organization. During my interviews and before I picked up and moved my entire life across the country, I repeatedly made sure to make it clear who I am and what I need and want and I was assured that I was supported and that they wanted me to be able to do these things.

For our current efforts I needed two contacts in the government because mine are now gone. I asked for an intro from someone at our managing organization and explained what I was doing. They are very familiar with where I volunteer and were happy to make the intro. However, something somewhere got garbled like a game of telephone and the questions I had asked were suddenly turned into a "geez that blew up fast! She's asking for policy to be written!" This was definitely not the ask; the ask was about a previous related public event and how to formally ask for it to be reignited, and then how to request a proclamation from the White House in a meaningful way.

Despite my never identifying myself as an employee of my organization, the garbled crazy version got back to my CEO, who wrote me a rather extensive and unhappy email, telling me that I'm not allowed to do policy work, that I'm not allowed to talk to people in government positions, and that they disagree with my volunteer activities and it's contrary to our organizational mission. In no uncertain terms, I was told that I'm not allowed to pursue the task I've been given for my volunteer work that is barely even tangentially related.

This deeply bothers me on a personal level because I've been an advocate of cargo ships for about 20 years. Grocery store shipping containers are a very small part of that and don't provide me with the full satisfaction to be happy in life, though I enjoy them immensely and the pay is better than in public advocacy.

I'm also concerned that I'm being given what very much sounds like an ultimatum. No more volunteering with this organization or you'll be fired!

On top of this, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to prohibit employees from volunteer work or from engaging in public advocacy. Did my CEO just basically tell me that I'm not allowed to do things a citizen of this country has the right to do by law? Since I didn't use my work title or affiliation to ask the questions, it seems like the CEO is flexing illegally. Although I did ask someone in our managing organization for contacts, I would and could have asked them for this even if I didn't work there because I knew these people anyway. As you can imagine, maritime matters and shipping containers is a very small industry so we all know each other and have known each other for years.

I guess instead of asking if this is legal... because I clearly can see that it isn't. I should be asking how fast I should be running from this organization that is flexing on employees about their volunteer work...