Outdoor retailer L.L. Bean has offered to help employees affected by the travel ban imposed by President Trump’s executive order.

Although the ban barring travel for visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim nations has been temporarily suspended, L.L. Bean CEO Stephen Smith said in a Feb. 2 memo that anyone “personally grappling” with the implications of the ban could reach out to him directly, according to Politico, which obtained a copy of the memo. The ban was lifted the next day by a federal judge in Seattle.

In the memo, Smith acknowledged the company had been at the center of unwelcome national attention when Bean heiress and board member Linda Bean was cited by the Federal Election Commission for excessive contributions to a political action committee that supported Trump. In a Jan. 12 tweeted response, Trump lauded Bean for standing up for her rights and encouraged people to buy Bean products. That, in turn, sparked a call to boycott Bean products by an anti-Trump organization, Grab Your Wallet.

The Freeport-based retailer has a longstanding tradition of not endorsing political candidates, making political contributions or taking political positions. Linda Bean said she was acting as an individual and not representing the company when she made her contributions to the pro-Trump PAC.

L.L. Bean is one of the state’s largest employers, with roughly 5,000 year-round employees, a work force that doubles over the holidays.

The president’s order is being challenged in multiple states, and the government had a deadline of 6 p.m. Monday to submit briefs to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in support of the order.


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