Chapter 29
Lisa
I am in the meeting room fifteen minutes early, after having spent the last two hours going through the policy in detail. Fully locked into the document, I ignore the text messages from my chairman. And also ignore his four calls. I cannot deal with that now.
Already agitated, I am now annoyed at the chairman’s persistence and ponder reminding him that while he might be the chairman of State Foods, Inc.
, I am a top ten shareholder. And though I’m not the type to flex my muscles, let it be known that I run a company twice the size of the one he operates. I know what I’m doing.
Madeline, General Counsel, savagely accuses him without knowing all the facts, “He’s a predator for abusing his power and sleeping with a recent college graduate. And one on her first real job! I’m sure he promised her a promotion — that sick bastard.”
This serves to fire up Sharon, Chief Information Officer, “Yes, he’s despicable. He walks around flirting with every young girl. No wonder his first wife divorced him.”
David Richards, Chief Risk Officer, who recently turned 52 and who has a two-year-old daughter with his 26-year-old girlfriend has no choice but to join in. “Yes, what Justin did was unethical. We need to have a zero-tolerance approach for these types of relationships in the workplace.”
The other executives arrive in time to call the meeting to order at 8:30am.
At 4:30pm, we are still in the meeting room, the meeting showing no signs of slowing down. The controversial topic has unearthed several underlying issues, and so the debate continues.
Five hours later, the team finally comes to a consensus which they believe, or for some of them pretend to believe, is fair and has taken into consideration the reality of the modern workplace.
The revised Code of Conduct is 615 pages long, with the hard-hitting point.
Effective, April 1, 2025. There shall be no sexual relationship between employees if one employee falls within the reporting structure of the other.
If any employee has been sexually involved with another employee who falls within their reporting structure, before April 1, 2025, it must be declared in writing to HR within 72 hours. Failure to do so, will result in immediate dismissal.
The management team unanimously agree to email this notification to staff, immediately. The email is circulated to all employees on March 31, 2025, at 9:45pm.