Larry Ellison Rips HP Board a New One 326
theodp writes "No stranger himself to sexual harassment allegations, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has denounced HP's directors for forcing the resignation of HP CEO Mark Hurd. 'The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago,' Ellison wrote. For now, it seems that Rupert Murdoch is also standing by Hurd, who sits on News Corp's Board of Directors and its Corporate Governance Committee. Less likely to survive the scandal is Hurd's relationship with HP General Counsel Mike Holston, who accepted Hurd's signed separation agreement after leading an investigation into Hurd's actions, which Holston told the NY Times 'showed a profound lack of judgment.' Quite a change from just last year, when Hurd and Holston teamed up to get their daughters' elite prep school a state-of-the-art HP Data Center."
Question: (Score:3)
Does anyone know if there is hard evidence (heh) proving this guy's guilt? It would be a real shame for this to be a false accusation that destroys a man's career...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
My understanding, though I've not read about the case in depth, is that he was accused, he admitted to it, and the accuser had already worked out a resolution, then the crap hit the fan, so to speak.
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty sure it would be hard to live up "undisclosed payments" from your company to a "marketing consultant" with which you had a "close personal relationship". Most of us employees want to oust our bosses over far less.
Re:Question: (Score:4, Interesting)
Happened to me in the 90s and on a much smaller scale. I was accused of groping a woman, and when the cop arrived, she couldn't even keep her story straight. The cop tried to convince her how to best make up her story in front of my face. I was arrested. When we went to court, I provided microcassette audio and a transcript of what had happened. Cop was fired, and they tried the woman for perjury. Still made my life a nightmare.
Re:Question: (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Question: (Score:5, Insightful)
To be fair, at one point it was pretty standard to put the accuser in a case like that more on trial than the accused.
Things have swung too far in the opposite direction, now, but you have to understand these things in context -- society's trying to find an appropriate equilibrium.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Society never finds equilibrium. It merely heads to the state with the lowest energy and the highest entropy.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
To be fair, at one point it was pretty standard to put the accuser in a case like that more on trial than the accused.
What's wrong with that? If you're talking about depriving a man of several years, if not decades, of his life, potentially subjecting him to rape in prison, and branding him for life after his release, shouldn't we be damn sure the accuser has their story straight?
Re:Question: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Philosophically, this is a more interesting scenario.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
But that's not the criteria discussed back when I was on campus. It was about drunk, conscious, girls that may or may not have been acting flirty but were considered unable to give consent.
So knowing that guys were accused and charged at this level of intoxication, the scenario stands as relevant.
Flamebait mod (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Flamebait mod (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Flamebait mod (Score:5, Funny)
That's "ridiculous strawperson".
Re:Flamebait mod (Score:4, Interesting)
Bullshit. Rape has been a hanging/death penalty/imprisonment level offense in the west for a very long time now. The only difference is that before the Enlightenment it was viewed as more a crime against a husband or father than a crime against the woman herself. In the early 20th century in the U.S., a woman's accusation of rape could and would get you very much killed very quickly (if you were lucky, they wouldn't burn you alive or torture you first), especially if you were black or an outsider.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd hate to be a celebrity or some kind of professional athlete in this respect. You would think they'd all be afraid to talk with strangers in public or date women innocently, for fear of those people all looking for a payday any way they could get it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, they wait many years before announcing they had a love-child. I wonder why there's that discrepancy between the two professions?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously, when is the last time you ever heard anyone do that publicly?
Less than a month? You can easily find numerous references not just from this year but from last of politicians and posters on the internet talking about how a woman invited raped on themselves. Then just take a trip to the Islamic world and any rape is assumed to be the woman's fault and that she invited it.
A lot of feminists claim this to be the case, and it's true that it might have once been more acceptable (and it was NEVER fully acceptable, BTW). But no one would dare say this sort of thing anymore today (certainly not openly, and even only reluctantly in private).
And yet despite this assertion it's trivially easy to do a google search and find people making public statements that say this exactly.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not talking about the Islamic world, I'm talking about the modern world. I'm sure you can find numerous references to Muslims claiming that Jinns have possessed their goats to produce bad milk too. That hardly makes the comments of those hillbilly Koran-thumpers mainstream.
But if you can produce mainstream commentators (and not just nutcases on message boards or tin-foil-hat blogs shooting their mouths off in anonymity) in the western world saying any such thing, then knock yourself out. The only time I
Re:Question: (Score:4, Insightful)
The Islamic world wasn't the whole of his examples, just an afterthought thrown in there.
Look at any Digg story about rape. Or any article that drifts into whether abortion should be legal in cases of rape.
Then there are stories like this http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10211/1076338-455.stm [post-gazette.com] where every mention of rape is assumed to actually be consensual sex (in other words, she asked for it).
Or these pamphlets that aim to spread the message everywhere http://jezebel.com/5482688/you-make-men-want-to-be-sinful-blaming-the-victim-religious-pamphlet-edition [jezebel.com]
Or http://jezebel.com/5478360/she-knew-what-would-happen-if-she-started-drinking-blaming-the-victim-princeton-edition [jezebel.com]
This shows that it isn't just a small nutball collective: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1251040/Rape-Its-fault-victims-say-50-women.html?ITO=1490&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailymail/home+(Home+ [dailymail.co.uk]|+Mail+Online)
The boys aren't to blame because she drank a bit: http://current.com/1db6i4c [current.com]
Here's what rapists think about it: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2010/04/15/why-dont-we-accept-victim-blaming-from-rapists/ [washingtoncitypaper.com]
There are a whole host of weirder cases, too, that imply that rape victims actually gave consent. Remember how Whoopi Goldberg ranting about how Roman Polanski's drugging and raping an unconscious child wasn't really rape? I'm not sure what she was getting at, but if it wasn't rape then it stands to reason that Whoopi thought something about the unconscious, drugged girl gave consent to Polanski.
But if you can produce mainstream commentators...
You are moving goalposts and putting them someplace strange and unnecessary. This isn't about political commentators blaming the victim, it's about members of the public blaming the victim, all the time. Fair enough that you can find a lone person with an insane definition of anything, but this is hardly a rare viewpoint.
This is insightful? (Score:3, Insightful)
[Citation needed]. Please, do tell. Quote me a "feminist" who's running around claiming that no woman has ever lied about this sort of thing. That's all right, I'll wait.
This is hardly limited to sexual harassment/rape cases - most people reflexively think that people accused of ANYTHING are probably guilty. There's a reaso
Re: (Score:2)
Here is a nice essay [salon.com] on that very subject.
Re:Question: (Score:5, Insightful)
Today you'd get thrown in jail for making that recording.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Depends on the state. I'd get out of Massachusetts while the getting was good.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a good thing you weren't in Illinois. Taping it with a microcassette without their knowledge is a felony here. But then, this IS Illinois, where the powerful want to be shielded from their lies.
Re: (Score:2)
http://chattahbox.com/business/2010/08/09/hps-sexual-harassment-accuser-jodie-fisher-skin-flick-actress/ [chattahbox.com]
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2010-08-06-hp-ceo-hurd-resigns_N.htm [usatoday.com]
I've only been reading a little bit from news sources, but it sounds like they were friends outside of work, and he wanted to sleep with her. She didn't want to sleep with him, and there wasn't any repercussions. Whatever happened, they dealt with it, and it sounds like they don't bear each other ill will. The e
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The 'accuser' has backed off things quite a bit, including saying they never had a sexual relationship ... all this after she received a settlement. That's why they call it 'hush money'.
I think you're mischaracterizing things. She never said they had a sexual relationship and Hurd never said they did. She said he harassed her. HP fired Hurd because he fraudulently expense'd $20,000 in gifts, visits, etc. to pursue the relationship.
Two points:
Re: (Score:2)
Don't feel too bad, he is getting a golden handshake in the tune of $150 million at least. (They are still working on some stock options and HP just came out with a nice profit)
Yes (Score:5, Informative)
He was not fired for the sexual harassment stuff. In fact he was cleared of violating HP's policy and he settled the suit out of court. Both he and woman have confirmed that they did not have a sexual relationship.
He was fired for filing inaccurate expense reports totalling about $20,000. Basically he concealed the fact that he was expensing meetings with this woman. HP has stated that they do have clear evidence of that, and that Hurd admitted it and offered to repay the $20k. Instead they fired him.
He was a superstar manager. If HP's financial performance suffers without Hurd, they could lose tens of billions of dollars in market cap. If that happens I have to think that investors are going to question whether that $20k was worth it.
Re:Yes (Score:5, Insightful)
He was a superstar manager. If HP's financial performance suffers without Hurd, they could lose tens of billions of dollars in market cap. If that happens I have to think that investors are going to question whether that $20k was worth it.
I don't disagree that he has been an amazing manager at HP, helping to turn things around after the mess that was Carly Fiorina.
However, how much corruption is too much to overlook? Where do you draw that line? He falsified records to get expenses paid out to himself and/or this woman for $20k, and when caught red-handed, offered to pay it back. Ok, but what if he wasn't caught? Would he have kept doing it? Would he have done it with some other woman? What happens if he wasn't caught until the total was in the millions? Would that have still been ok, because a couple million is still less than tens of billions in market cap?
What is the value of corporate officers acting honestly no matter what?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This is business, not government. In business, you perform a cost analysis, with the risks and potential benefits.
Morality, ethics don't really enter in to the question unless it becomes a PR and marketing issue.
Hurd was doing a great job for the company, and yes he fucked up. However, I believe someone used this situation as a cover for their own personal agenda.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
There isn't any leeway, especially at the top.
And this is why kids get kicked out of schools for having a butter knife in their lunch box.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/08/10/businessinsider-backlash-against-hewlett-packard-grows-it-seems-mark-hurd-fired-because-company-scared-of-bad-pr-over-bogus-sexual-harassment-allegation-2010-8.DTL [sfgate.com]
Re: (Score:2)
The agenda being "get money for myself". Someone powerful wants money, and he is in-between them and that. That is all it ever is.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
"Good ethics is good business"
It's the internal motto at the company I work for and they hammer it home time and time again. And it pays off, the company is regularly rated high for ethics and trust, especially compared to other places in our industry. Not everyone feels the way you assume, some realize that lots of small costs now can pay off in the future by increasing the trust that your customers put in you.
Re:Yes (Score:5, Insightful)
People simply do not understand things at the top of the political/business world. None of this was about what he did, falsified what, or expensed whatever. This was about someone else wanting him out. Someone powerful wants the job, or doesn't like the guy, period.
People at this level are in constant competition with others to keep their jobs, and have to force others out. If you make yourself politically weak by doing some jackoff thing like this, it makes it easier to take you out. Here, someone did. They managed to overlook the data center for his kids school, for chrissake. He just had more juice at that time.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent up. I have no doubt that a $200 falsification at a big.ugly.corp would have you marched out of the building with your box of trinkets. It does seem like a Capone-esque way of getting rid of him, and Gawker's story on the school possibly points to a far bigger, but allowed drain on shareholder funds via executive sense of entitlement than lying about expenses.
Re: (Score:2)
"What is the value of corporate officers acting honestly no matter what?"
Nothing to the corporation. 20K is about the equivalent of keeping a pen from work in you pocket and leaving it at home. (How many of us have a cupful of pens, Sharpies, etc?)
There are plenty of options between retention and dismissal. A verbal reprimand would be invisible and likely have gotten the job done. Someone had it out for him.
$20k is a much bigger deal than it seems (Score:5, Insightful)
The firing wasn't about the amount of the falsification. $20k is indeed chump change for a bazillion-dollar executive. But once you let the CEO get away with blatantly falsifying expense accounts, you've now made theft from the company an acceptable practice. How do you now justify firing an employee for the same thing? Why is it okay for a CEO to steal $20k, but not okay for a peon to do the same? Condoning this behavior is simply not the right thing to do, and can trigger long-term problems with morale and the company culture which can lead to massive losses (and possibly company failure) years down the road.
I'd say there is a 100% chance that any peon that stole $20k would be escorted out of the building by security (and isn't going to receive any cushy severance package either) and possibly brought up on charges.
I applaud HP's board for doing the right thing here and demonstrating the executives are held to the same ethical rules as front-line employees. Yes, it hurt. Yes, Hurd was an otherwise-excellent CEO. Yes, this has cost a lot of short-term pain to the stock price. But some things just aren't right, and churning up $20k in fraudulent expense accounts is one of them. (Wiretapping journalists to find out their sources is another, which HP found out the hard way.) I think HP will be a stronger company down the road as a result.
SirWired
Re: (Score:2)
"Condoning this behavior is simply not the right thing to do, and can trigger long-term problems with morale and the company culture which can lead to massive losses (and possibly company failure) years down the road."
If fucking up the company culture killed companies, HP would have been long dead due to previous management.
None of the story needed to leak so it would not have mattered had it been kept mum. Someone decided it was useful to exploit for whatever reason, and did so.
Re:$20k is a much bigger deal than it seems (Score:4, Interesting)
Why is it okay for a CEO to steal $20k, but not okay for a peon to do the same?
For the same reason it is okay for a large failed business to recieve billions in taxpayer support under the Bush/Obama bailout plan but not okay for anyone with an underwater mortgage to walk away from it.
One law for the ultra-rich, one law for the rest. Welcome to America.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure their HR department has a zero tolerance policy on stealing from the company. How much money do I have to be worth before the rules don't apply to me anymore? Do you really think it's only unacceptable to steal if I'm on the bottom half of the org chart?
Re: (Score:2)
If that happens I have to think that investors are going to question whether that $20k was worth it.
investors probably want to know also that HP management doesn't stand for execs stealing from the company. it's their money after all. or, maybe the rule should be that as long as they don't steal more than they are ostensibly worth, it's all good.
you'd also have to ask whether you want to employ a man who is dumb enough to steal $20k when he's getting six+ figure salary not to mention bonuses.
Re: (Score:2)
If they lack a functioning morality, then why did Hurd get fired?
Re: (Score:2)
Does anyone know if there is hard evidence (heh) proving this guy's guilt? It would be a real shame for this to be a false accusation that destroys a man's career...
Oh yes it would be just *awful* if this poor man had to retire on $11.6 million in cash and $40-50 million in HP stock.
I agree with your basic premise, not guilty means that he should be made whole after this mess is sorted out. This "resignation" is there to make problems for HP go away whether or not Hurd actually did anything. However I find it VERY hard to feel bad for someone that makes over 1000 times what the average middle class salaried worker makes. I'm pretty sure he can retire comfortably and hi
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh I'm very jealous. I'd like to know what to put in my contracts so that I get a bonus when I resign.
I do agree with the parent's original premise that no one should be treated as a criminal until proven guilty of a crime. Its just really hard to feel sorry for someone who makes more than I will in my working career just for quitting his job.
This isn't exactly the same as the manager that had his reputation ruined because of planted kiddie porn, but it is in the same vein.
FTFY (Score:5, Insightful)
Does anyone know if there is hard evidence (heh) proving this guy's guilt? It would be a real shame for this to be a false accusation that gives this man $12 million in cash and $30 to 40 million in stock options...
-Rick
Re:Question: Headline test (Score:2)
Doesn't matter. Business code of conduct says if it might look bad in a headline, don't do it. HP is a fortune 10 company and in the middle of a pretty big turnaround. The last thing they need is (potential) clients questioning leadership.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/sustainability/hp-ousts-ceo-hurd-fails-the-headline-test/1126 [zdnet.com]
Harassment... (Score:5, Funny)
No stranger himself to sexual harassment allegations, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
I heard Larry Ellison keeps the sexual harassment forms in the bottom drawer of his desk. That way when a woman goes to get one he can check out her ass.
.
Re: (Score:2)
Mark Hurd is Irrelevant - The Challenge for HP (Score:5, Insightful)
Mark Hurd's silly exit has little to do with HP's real problems. As an executive there about a decade ago, I saw a company that was giving up its differentiating value in the name of operational savings, not realizing that by now the Golden Goose of creativity would find greener pastures. But surprisingly, the classic HP tradition of building a great place to do engineering that results in a flood of excellent creative products is being followed...
Read the rest of the posting [perens.com].
Politics politics (Score:2)
Hopefully, the offended woman will do some Ahley Dupree photo shoots soon so we can see what the fuss is about.
Re: (Score:2)
If you RTFAed, you would know that there is already, um, material in the public domain.
Re: (Score:2)
No need to wait for a photoshoot, she's done some B/C-movies: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167546/ [imdb.com].
Intimate Obsession and Body of Influence 2 should give you what you were looking for.
Re: (Score:2)
Here you go [gawker.com].
Obvious (Score:5, Funny)
With so many senior tech company staff quitting or being fired in the past few weeks, I must conclude that there is a connection. The Earth is doomed, and these individuals have been chosen to be part of the secret task-force designing the space craft that will whisk the rich and influential away to live on another planet.
Re: (Score:2)
The Earth is doomed, and these individuals have been chosen to be part of the secret task-force designing the space craft that will whisk the rich and influential away to live on another planet.
Let's hope Hurd does a better job designing the spacecraft that's going to save us all than HP did with its initial 'slate' offering ... and we're all crossing our fingers that this space craft will run WebOS instead of Windows.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you want to be shot by your husband?
Re: (Score:2)
Oh don't worry, we have an open relationship.
But, if you want to be "shot"...
Larry's statement - without logging in. (Score:5, Informative)
Be nice to find another news source - like this one [thestreet.com] where a login was not needed.
"In losing Mark Hurd, the H-P board failed to act in the best interest of H.P.'s employees, shareholders, customers and partners," Ellison wrote in an email to The New York Times, which posted excerpts of the email late Monday. "The H-P board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false."
Violated policy (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
"Mark violated other company policies and chose the better path. There are many other people who can fill the shoes of the CEO at HP. Mark's departure strengthened the HP brand and that is very valuable."
Spintastic, good sir! Delivered with impeccable corporate style. :)
Re:Violated policy (Score:4, Insightful)
HP has been headed by complete imbeciles for years now. The legendarily bad Carly was just the first headliner.
I'm not too close to his work, but Mark Hurd was actually the first HP CEO in years that didn't seem to be a completely vacuous idiot. By not immediately firing every engineer and outsourcing design to wikipedia, Mark Hurd was the best HP CEO since the 90's. He seemed like he wanted to lead a business that actually made things. It was shocking.
While there are many people that can competently fill the shoes of the CEO at HP, if history is any indication the board will elect Mister Bean.
"a profound lack of judgment" (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this how "corruption on a massive scale" is spelled, nowadays?
Re: (Score:2)
It's spelled C-E-O.
Sexual harassment (Score:2)
It is a matter of a criminal court, not company policy.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
if its not criminal why bother
GNU/ (Score:2, Funny)
She didn't want him fired (Score:5, Informative)
Part of the scandal that she didn't want him fired as he had already settled the harassment charges with her. The pictures I saw showed very attractive actress back in her 30s (she is 50 now). She was hired for marketing and networking. ("HP paid her up to $5,000 per event to greet people and make introductions among executives")
She reported unwanted advances and that uncovered a forged dinner reimbursement with her that was why he was ousted. (He probably was with another woman but claimed it was her so he could get dinner reimbursed.) She says she was "surprised and saddened" that Hurd lost his job. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38611219/ns/business-us_business/ [msn.com]
HP board a source of intrigue a few years ago? (Score:2)
Why do I remember reading some long article (NY Times? New Yorker?) about intrigue on the HP board. It may have been Fiorina related, but I seem to recall something to do with cell phone records, etc.
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
The slimy lawyer term used was pretexting, everybody else knows it as identity theft and fraud.
not even close to the worst (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the board that hired Carly, setting a new standard for "worst personnel decision". Compared to that, this doesn't even make a blip on the radar.
Why so surprised? (Score:3, Insightful)
'The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago,'
I'm surprised Ellision is surprised. The HP board is no stranger to godawful personnel decisions [wikipedia.org].
He was fired for lying and stealing. (Score:5, Insightful)
Everyone is focusing on the sexual aspects of this. If you read through HP's statements, they fired him because he falsified expense reports (lied) so he could give money to the woman involved for *consulting* services that appeared to have either never been performed or were done so poorly as to be worthless (stole).
HP canned his butt for stealing, plan and simple. It would be idiotic to keep a thief on as your CEO, especially in this political, companies are the root of all evil climate. HP's board did their job in this case.
Well, if Larry backs him... (Score:4, Insightful)
If Larry Ellison backs Hurd then he must be his kind of scum - fearless and inventive. Takes one to know one.
Larry and RMS too (Score:2)
If Larry Ellison backs Hurd then he must be his kind of scum
Then so must Richard Stallman [gnu.org].
Surprised? (Score:5, Interesting)
Really, is anyone surprised that this is Larry Ellison's reaction? (Regardless of the actual details of the allegations or truth of them.)
He's the kind of guy (the bit about him in the Washington Post article linked in TFA speaks to this somewhat, if you're not familiar) who thinks of executives as a kind of new aristocracy, able to do whatever they want and sleep with whichever female employees they want without limit or accountability.
People rag on the quirks tech CEOs like Ballmer and Jobs (and some of it's deserved and/or funny), but Ellison is a honest-to-god king of the douchebags.
lets see (Score:2)
elison is a total idiot (Score:2)
HP board (Score:2)
from the linked NY Times article:
Even those who side with the HP board in their decision would agree with Mr. Ellison on that point. The issue is not whether the board damaged HP, of course they did, it is whether the greater good of enforcing ethical conduct was served by doing so.
Larry Ellison is the last CEO I would ask... (Score:4, Insightful)
Larry Ellison runs Oracle like his own personal fiefdom. He's very good at what he does, but he's the last person on earth I'd ask for advice on executive boundaries. His attitude fits in very well with Oracle's corporate culture (which he built.) It would be a disaster for HP.
Oracle's board would never fire him for such a thing (could they even do so?), but HP's board was quite right in tossing Hurd to the curb.
HP's board made a tough choice, but in the end, I think it will have proven to be the correct one.
SirWired
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
CEO and executives *are* the new aristocracy... (Score:2)
Don't fool yourself. Boards don't give a damn about CEOs and top managers sexually harassing employees (even if it wasn't the case here) and they couldn't care less about expense account abuses (record companies executives anyone? hookers and blow etc.) or about rampant corruption. They only care when any of it goes public, then heads have to roll (damage control and PR bullshit). This is what happened here.
What's the matter, Larry? (Score:2)
Worried that your board might show you the door?
Rupert Murdoch? (Score:2)
If Rupert Murdoch is on Hurd's side, Hurd must be a dirtbag. Rupert Murdoch has time and again proven himself to be the slimiest of the slime.
Nasty people (Score:2)
A quick look at the HP share price also suggests what a lot of influential people may think; the sudden fall off the side of a cliff suggests a perception that either this is seen as a bad move which wil
The real reason: (Score:5, Funny)
Severance Pay: $40M Not having to live through the consequences of accidently buying a behind the curve smartphone manufacturer, and having your CEO buddies think you were booted for sexy stuff: Priceless.
I know what he should have said (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I think the duality in the ethical system in the American workplace is a natural result of corporate America's success at buying whatever they want from Congress - success, even when what they purchase causes grievous harm to the American people and the national interest. The individual who would not self-inflate when their every wish became reality is rare
Re: (Score:2)
*shrug*
From the various stories and statements, what happened was this: he asked her out, probably more than once. Not a crime, and not really against policy in any corporation. Here's where it gets fuzzy, though. He's the boss-man, and she works for them. It will start to stress a girl out, knowing that he can terminate the business relationship. From her own statement, she did not want him fired, and probably went to HR in order to make the complaint formal so no reprisals would occur. HR isn't always the