"Look Miss Jules, it's a long standing policy that Boston Foods does not hire illegal immigrants. The word "illegal" I believe has something to do with that. You being in our legal department know this. And your questions concerning Jesus Gutierrez papers are not being received well, especially coming on the heels of his recent promotion." James Cane was already fed up with this young energetic woman from legal. "As HR Director I'm obligated to keep confidential information, it's my job, but trust me when I say that I regret I cannot release the information you requested, however everything is in order per the board of directors’ policies." That was some fancy wording to skirt around using "totally legal". Yes James had confidential knowledge, but he had to keep from perjuring himself. Or at least keep plausible deniability. The boards’ PR desires for more ethnic diversity in top management be damned, he wasn't going to jail because of careless words. And this young lawyer looked to have the idealistic fire in her to be a whistle blower. He tried to look casual and relaxed as he waited to see how she responded.
Lauren narrowed her eyes at James. She wasn't in the legal department because she was naive. Had he answered her question? She didn't really think so. She hesitated. Would finding out the answer be worse than not knowing? Could she claim plausible deniability if she didn't know and something happened? Then again, would a judge really believe the head of the legal department didn't know something like that? That's when her hazel eyes noticed James was still waiting for a response. She maintained a stoic face and answered, "Just don't expect me to deny or approve any paperwork in regards to Jesus until I see all the documents I requested are in order."
James sighed then leaned back into his chair pursing his lips to avoid revealing just how frustrated this woman was making him. His boss and the board were expecting him to grease Jesus's promotion through. The position was somewhat high level, but more importantly the PR value of promoting a migrant who started out in the fields to management was a PR stick his bosses desired. With a wink and a nod they'd entrusted the task of making it happen his. These were days he wished he was fishing. Did his bosses know Jesus's status? James didn't know 100% for certain. But never mind that, how could he convince this young firebrand to stop eating torches and get on board. Well, he'd tried coercion, maybe a change of tact was necessary. "Miss Jules can I be bluntly honest with you?"
“Oh, feel free to start at any time.”
James ignored the barb. “As you know, our company policies for field laborers are pretty lax. Our crops need picked and we pay whoever will do the work. Our problem is the people who pay my, and may I remind you, your salary, desire to promote one of these workers to management for, as you know, PR purposes. I myself in this particular case was not consulted, management recommended Jesus for promotion and the board of directors and CEO want it done." James shrugged and held up his hands. "What am I to do?"
Lauren attempted to hide an amused smile from James. If he thought she was willing to break the law for a job he clearly didn't know her very well. And was there a hint of aggression meant as intimidation in his voice? With the amount of times she'd been in a court room he'd have to use better tactics than that. She met James’ gaze squarely, "Look. I'm not about to be prosecuted because the CEO might want to promote someone not up to par legally. I don't sign things if I don't know they are legal. That's the point of them going through me. I don't have any issue with Jesus but if he isn't here legally he is taking that job from someone who is."
“No arguments there Miss Jules! However I would like to point out that his legal status is unknown. We trust that the people who hired him did there job correctly since it is illegal to hire someone who isn’t in the country legally. I’m merely asking you to trust the people who did hire Jesus. It kinda looks bad that you are stopping a deserving immigrant from getting a promotion, and that you are questioning the competence of his bosses. It would be very unfortunate to make it look like upper management in Boston Foods is racists in any way and untrusting of it’s employees don’t you agree?” Before she could answer he pressed on, “And after all, what harm is there is letting this promotion go through? If we find out later that mistakes were made, we can rectify it then, no need to go looking for dirt now. Plus, we can always claim that we didn’t know, since technically neither you nor I hired Mr. Gutierrez.”
‘We can claim we didn’t know what?’ Lauren wondered. ’Claim we didn’t know whatever he isn’t telling me.’ “I never questioned the competence of his bosses, simply the legality of his bosses. And that’s my job so I don’t really care if you don’t like that.” Lauren’s face had hardened in frustration. Did he think he was better than her because he was a man or because he stood idly by or even actively participated in illegal activities? She had to suppress a snort.
“You’re the head of HR Mr. Cane, aren’t you responsible for what goes on in your department? Don’t you care? And if you don’t know now but you do find out later will you rectify the mistake? Especially if it’s after Jesus is in management? Furthermore, if dirt comes out and we end up in court it will be too late to rectify mistakes. Are you prepared to go to jail for Jesus? Does he mean that much to you personally that you are willing to rot in prison for him?”
James stifled a curt retort. He wasn’t going to answer any of those questions, and she seemed intent to ride this band wagon over the edge. Very well, two could play that game. After all, James personally didn't give a hoot about the PR campaign nor this employee in question. And he'd be a fool to take a stand for it.
"Very well Miss Jules. You have us at an impasse,” he said with a half smile. "I can't release documents to you, however please continue your investigation and let me know when you are finished and the outcome. Until then I shall simply inform the board and the CEO, Carl Rictor, that you and your department are placing this on hold and there is nothing I can do until you green light it. Does that suit you?" He raised his eyebrows and stippled his hands, still leaning back in the office chair. 'Let’s see how she likes being the party to blame,' he thought smugly.
'They can go ahead and fire me for not standing by illegal activities. They will hear from me in court if they do,' Lauren thought but she gave James a forced smile. "Okay James, fine. How about this. As the head of HR if you sign off on all these documents saying they are good then I will push any paperwork through. Then Jesus can be officially promoted and we can all rest easy knowing everything is up to par." Hopefully that would work well enough to get legal responsibility off her plate and not have her be supporting illegal activity. Yet she didn't know if it would be over even with that. It seemed odd that everyone was being so difficult about this. Was there a way she could figure this out without alerting others and indulging in her own criminal activities? Maybe she could try to send out a mole? Obviously openly questioning things was just going to get her in trouble. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. One hurdle at a time, she had to deal with James first.
James's smile hardened slightly. She was a very slippery opponent. Usually he could argue his way around most of the managers in the office. He was going to have to watch this feisty young lawyer. However, whether she knew it or not a stalemate had been reached. That position was not so intractable as it sounded. He nodded. "Very well Miss Jules, leave them on my desk and I'll go over them." He made a show of checking his watch and stood. "However, I’m afraid I'm about to be late to a meeting so they'll have to wait." He gestured towards the door as he came around the desk. He had no such meeting but did feel a need to stretch his legs while he considered what to do now. Blast, this woman was tenacious!
Lauren set all the files in a neat stack on James' desk. Her forced smile became genuine. "Okay, no rush on my end so no worries." She stood with her tablet and walked with confidence as he ushered her out of his office. 'Typical man,' she thought as she headed back to her own office. Her mind was reeling with different wonderings and ideas. Was Boston foods a bigger challenge than she originally realized? This was going to be more fun than she thought.
~G.G. Marshall & J. Lindsey Marshall
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