Which it wasn’t.
“Those days have passed, Dan,” Hunter said. “Johnathan is no longer working in the business.”
Daniel shook his head.
“How long will that reputation hang around? Surely Dufort Senior hasn’t caused any trouble for a while now.” Tony, the director of finance, spoke up.
He’d been with Dufort Hotels a long time, so if anyone had an opinion outside the brothers, his would be valuable.
“Do I need to remind everyone what I went through a few months ago? Christ,” Daniel said, shaking his head.
“Come on, Daniel, that was an anomaly and nothing to do with the purpose of this policy,” Fletcher snapped.
Angry eyes met his.
“Pray tell how you come to that conclusion, Fletcher. You know more than anyone in this room the details of the blackmail. It was because of the sexual involvement our father had with a previous employee,” Daniel snapped.
Fletcher shook his head.
“Decades ago!” he growled. “Decades, Daniel. And our father was a scoundrel, to put it bluntly. Its 2022.”
He glanced at the director of HR. “Miranda, with theMe Toomovement, and our current culture, would you confidently say if there was any sexual harassment happening inside Dufort Hotels, that staff would speak up?”
She frowned. “Yes and no. It’s still a gray area.”
Daniel lifted a brow as if he’d proven a point.
“However, this policy,” she said, lifting up the printed copy she had brought with her, “makes no difference. It’s a cultural behavior of our time. What we’re ultimately creating by keeping it in place is an environment where people have to sneak aroundorpossibly not speak up about harassment because it could backfire, and they might risk losing their job.”
Well, he hadn’t thought of that. One look at Daniel’s face and he could see his brother hadn’t, either.
“Especially if its someone senior. Which, in most cases, it is,” Miranda added.
He didn’t want to push the knife in further, but now that they were here, he asked his final question.
“And Miranda, what do our recent surveys show in regard to employment brand reputation?”
He knew the answer.
She flipped through some pages and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Eighty-five percent. Which,” she said, glancing up at him and Daniel, “is excellent.”
Daniel let out a long sigh and tapped his pen rapidly on his folder.
“Okay, does anyone have any questions before we vote?”
“If we vote this out,” Hunter asked, “what support will we put in place to ensure those whoarebeing harassed have a path to go down, so that they feel safe?”
“And one that can’t be taken advantage of by upset employees,” Brent, their corporate lawyer, added.
“Excellent points,” Daniel said.
“I’ve got some ideas on that, and information from colleagues in other organizations. I can work with Brent to draft new policies and procedures to ensure staff are protected,” Miranda said.
“If we vote it out,” Daniel added.
Fletcher pressed his lips together to hold back his smile. The policy was dead. They all knew it.
Daniel grimaced and let out another long sigh.