Chapter 9

I woke up early the next morning to make the call I had been dreading. “Janet Kaufman,” the voice on the other end was crisp, filtered through the sterile precision of a corporate greeting.

“Hey Janet. It’s Jack. I’m calling to follow up on our discussion. What do you have for me?”

There was a momentary hesitation, a sliver of silence where Janet seemed to be weighing the gravity of her words. “I have looked into it, Jack, but you probably won’t like why I have to say this. First, our policy on fraternization doesn’t cover this instance because your wife doesn’t work for the company. However, you have cause for harassment if you think that Thomas changed your work or did something that affected your output, or perhaps created a hostile work environment.”

I leaned back against the headboard of my bed, staring at the ceiling. “No, I discovered this from my wife. I wasn’t aware that this was happening. The way my job is structured, Thomas has no control over the work I do; I take direction from, Steve, the SVP of Research and get project budget from the programs office. I barely have anything to do with Thomas. While I officially report to Thomas, that was set up so Steve would have fewer direct reports. Thomas submits my performance review and manages the day-to-day operating budget for computers and salary payments, but that’s about it.” I paused, a cold realization settling in. “I’ve always thought he was a bit arrogant for what he does, so I just avoid him. Maybe this is some kind of retribution over the fact that he has so little control over my job?”

I mused for a moment on what Thomas might have been thinking. It was an unusual power play— a sort of passive aggressive attack. To sleep with the wife of a man who was technically his subordinate was the ultimate ego trip for a man like Kane, but it wasn’t clear to me what he got out of it other than a feeling of superiority. It had no impact on the job. Maybe he wanted me to find out and quit?

“So you won’t be doing anything about Thomas? As I said when we talked the other day, if nothing is done about him, I will resign,” I said.

I heard a sigh form Janet. “Jack, if you file a complaint and follow the lines I gave you, then we can follow our internal process and I think you have a very good case. But I am not seeing that we could terminate Thomas without opening ourselves to legal action.”

I let the silence linger a bit. “Janet, you will receive my resignation by email shortly. I will send it to you and Steve. I refuse to have anything to do with Thomas.”

I could hear the tenseness in Janet’s voice, “Jack, I’m so sorry about this. It certainly isn’t something that I or anyone else wanted to happen.”

“Except for Thomas,” I said tersely.

“Look, Jack, it sounds like you have made up your mind. If so, I wanted to remind you that our standard contract still requires you to actually work out at least two weeks for handover. And, of course, you will need to hand in any corporate devices and follow any NDAs or non-compete clauses that are part of your contract.”

“Janet, you weren’t around at the time, but I joined via a buyout of my company. There were many revisions to my contract of employment when I went from owner to employee, but one of the clauses was that company could walk me with no payout at any time with no notice. I was a bit tetchy about that clause so I required a reciprocal arrangement - which means that I can resign with no notice. I am executing that clause. My laptop and mobile phone are BYOD, so just have IT do a remote data wipe in the company enclave on both devices. That’s it. Give me a few moments to type up my resignation email. It has been good working you,” I finished heavily.