Page 122 of Business Casual

“Here you are,” she said, placing a menu in front of my seat.

“Thank you,” I said to her. Focusing on Mr. Franklin, I gave him a timid smile. “Hello.” Sticking my hand out to shake it, I forced myself to be brave. “Hello, Mr. Franklin, thank you for meeting with me.”

He rose to his feet. “Ms. Jones, welcome.” He shook my hand and then waited for me to sit before taking his own seat. “Have you been here before?”

“No, sir. I haven’t.”

“Okay, take a look and after we order, we can begin our meeting.”

I nodded and then picked up the large menu. I didn’t know if it was because I was dreading the conversation or because they had a lot of options, but it took a longer time to figure out what I wanted to eat. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I didn’t want to not order.

Once the waiter came and took our orders, I noticed he ordered two entrees.

Oh shit, the lawyer.

The waiter had only gotten two steps from the table. “Now Ms. Jones, did you speak with Alex about your meeting with me tonight?”

“No, sir.”

He nodded slowly. “Well, I want to start off by telling you that I think you are a lovely woman and under different circumstances, I wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction to you dating my son. In fact, I would’ve celebrated it.” He picked up his scotch and took a sip. “It isn’t about you. You understand that, correct?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”

“The contract you signed with Franklin Financial stipulates that you follow the HR handbook as if you were an employee. So, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why it’s a conflict of interest for you to date my son while you’re working directly with his project.”

I picked up the glass of water and sipped. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

He held up a copy of the consensual relationship form. “Did you read this before you signed it?”

“I did.”

“Did your lawyer?”

I shook my head slowly. “No.”

Did I miss something?

“I had my lawyer go over this and then I met with the Franklin Financial legal team. You signed this knowing that if anything happens, right or wrong, you can’t sue for any type of harassment or discrimination. You can’t gain anything from the company by pursuing this relationship. Not that my son would ever go out of his way to hurt anyone, but if something happened, you have signed this knowing that you can’t take legal action against Franklin Financial,” he clarified.

“I know. That’s how I interpreted it,” I acknowledged with a nod.

“The couple I mentioned yesterday, they, too, were optimistic about their relationship. From what they disclosed to me at the end when I found out about it, they, too, thought they were in love. And while they weren’t the first employees that pursued something romantic. They were the first supervisor and supervisee. And that power dynamic is a problem.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“I love my son. But I will be taking this to the board for transparency. It is likely they will vote to relinquish him from his position.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. “What?”

He studied me. “If they see anything that looks like it could be detrimental to the viability of our company, they will intervene. If he chooses to be with you, they may choose to demote him or worse, fire him.”

“Can you stop them?”

He checked his phone. “My hands would be tied.”

“I’m not an official employee. There has to be another way. Would he be able to do his project as a subsidiary of Franklin Financial?” I wondered.

“They would still take his relationship with you as an indication of his judgement.” He leaned forward. “So the way this plays out is either you two break up or he gets demoted or fired. Those are the only options if the board decides they are going to enforce the company policy.”

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