Authors: Dianne Harman
Phyllis noticed that there were a number of mothers with sick children who were standing a respectful distance apart from Sam and Phyllis. They obviously were waiting to see the doctor and it was very apparent that Sam was idolized by the mothers and children.
Sam unlocked the door, feeling as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He didn't need to worry any more about staffing, payroll, forms, scheduling, etc. He was free to do what he did best, care for and treat sick children.
CHAPTER 9
Sidney, the president of Moore Scientific Laboratories, was in a state of shock upon hearing what Dan had told him about the security breach of his gifted employee, Jeffrey Brooks. As soon as Dan left Sidney's office, he called the in-house counsel for Moore Labs, Peter Lincoln. "Peter, could you come to my office at once? It's important and I need your advice. We may have a major catastrophe on our hands."
Peter Lincoln, a tall, greying, 50ish-looking lawyer, had been with Moore Labs for twelve years. An impeccable dresser, Peter was one of the few men who could get by with always sporting a folded pocket square, which matched his tie, in the breast pocket of his suit coat. He lost no time in getting to Sidney's office. As he stepped out of the elevator on the sixth floor, he thought something must really be important. In the twelve years he had been with Moore Labs, he had never been summoned to Sidney's office. His department dealt mainly with contracts and other legal aspects of the company. His curiosity was aroused as he stepped into the reception area. Monica immediately ushered him into Sidney's office.
"Thanks for getting here so fast, Peter," Sidney began. "An unimaginable breach of trust has taken place that could have far-reaching consequences for Moore Labs. I need to have a very clear understanding about Moore's potential liability in this matter and what we need to do to prepare ourselves.”
“What has happened? You’ve never asked me to come to your office. How can I help?” Peter said.
"I have just been told by a very trusted and reliable employee that Jeffrey Brooks, the brilliant young man who discovered the anti-aging hormone, which we have submitted for approval to the FDA, has been injecting the hormone into his wife for some time. I can't believe a man of his talent and intellect, someone who many of us expect will garner the Nobel Prize for his efforts, would be so stupid.”
“Wait a sec,” Peter said. “That’s clearly a violation of our standards and to my knowledge; none of our other scientists has ever done anything like this. Are you sure?”
“Yes, Jeffrey's wife admitted to my source that Jeffrey was doing this after my source happened to see a Moore Labs vial in her purse. I don't need to tell you that this is not only illegal, but just as important; it is completely against our company policy. I am going to have to fire both of them, but first there are some things I need to know.”
Sidney continued, "I need to be sure of our legal position and I need to know his legal position. It is my understanding that the hormone he discovered is the legal property of Moore Labs. Office rumors say that he has been courted by several other drug companies, but I believe that we own the formula because of the contract he signed when he started with us. My concern is that he will go to one of those drug companies or a drug company in some foreign country and sell the formula to them. Other countries don't have the long approval waiting periods we have here in the United States and the drug could be sold in another country within the year, completely undercutting Moore Labs. I don't need to tell you what a nightmare that would be for our company and its stockholders who have been waiting for FDA approval for some time. Obviously, I need some advice and I need it fast.”
“That is my understanding as well, but I’ll need to see the contracts he signed when he became an employee of Moore Labs. Do you have them?” Peter asked.
"I had Monica go to HR and get Jeffrey's personnel file. All the documents that he signed when he was hired by Moore Labs are in it. Take a look and tell me what you think. Here's the file."
Peter opened the large manila file folder Sidney handed him and began reading, trying to ignore Sidney, who was nervously pacing back and forth in the large office. Thirty minutes later, Peter closed the file.
"Well, it's just as you thought. Jeffrey did sign a confidentiality agreement, a non-competition contract, and a contract regarding experiments. The last one, regarding experiments, is the one that provides that all discoveries are the legal property of Moore Labs. However, the problem is trying to enforce these contracts. If it's true that he has violated the contracts, and you seem certain that he has, you could sue him,” Peter said.
“If we sue him, can you imagine the adverse publicity we would get? I don’t think that our stockholders and investors would be very happy about that. I also wonder if the questions that would surround the hormone would slow down FDA approval. That would make the stockholders and investors even angrier,” Sidney responded.
Peter continued, “It would be very hard to extradite him from another country if he leaves the United States and then sells the formula in that country. Plus, litigation over ownership of his discovery would probably tie the hormone up in the courts for a long time, which would not sit well with Moore Labs' investors.”
“Well,” Sidney said, “If you were me, what would you do? After all, this is what I pay you for.”
"You're probably not going to like my advice. I'm looking at this from a practical standpoint as well as a legal standpoint. Legally, you win. Practically, you lose. Why don't you offer him a large sum of money and get him to leave Moore Labs? It's going to cost him the Nobel Prize either way. If what he has done is ever released to the public, the Nobel Committee will never award him the prize because he violated the terms and conditions of his employment. The Nobel Committee will never allow itself to become involved in a scandal. Unfortunately, because a company cannot receive the prize, only an individual can and no more than three at that, Moore Labs will not receive the publicity you were hoping to get if Jeffrey won."
Peter went on. "If he leaves Moore, the company still owns the anti-aging hormone and he won't be eligible for the award because he doesn't own the hormone. Is my proposed solution perfect? No, but under the circumstances, it may be the best one for everyone. Don't you have access to some kind of slush fund so no one would know what has happened? One that wouldn't involve other people? Moore would simply release a statement that, due to health reasons, Jeffrey decided to take an early retirement. It happens all the time. Is it the end of his career? Probably, but he's the one who made the choice."
Sidney didn't like to be put in a box, particularly one drawn by an employee. However, the more he thought about it, Peter's recommendation of an out-of-court settlement did provide a solution to a potentially devastating situation. This way, no one would ever know what really happened. After the initial statement and story, the press would no longer be interested and Moore would retain all its rights to the hormone.
Sidney wondered how much money he'd need to pay Jeffrey to silence him. As the president of the company, he knew there was a large fund for just such a contingency. Not surprisingly, he was the only one who had access to it. The more he thought about the plan, the more convinced he became that it might just work.
"Thanks for your counsel. Naturally, I don't want any of this conversation repeated. It's probably just as well that I don't tell you what I have decided to do. Under the circumstances, I think the less even you know; the better. This is a very delicate situation and I need to act fast. I'm worried about collateral damage and all that. Monica will see you out."
Sidney spent the next few hours developing his strategy and at four o'clock that afternoon, he asked Monica to call Jeffrey's secretary and have Jeffrey come to his office at five.
CHAPTER 10
It was just getting dark when Jeffrey rode the elevator up to the sixth floor. He entered the luxurious reception area, noting the Granville Redmond painting on the wall directly across from the window, which provided a panoramic view of Saddleback Mountain to the east and the blue Pacific to the west. Monica asked him to be seated, said Sidney would be with him shortly, and went into his office to let him know that Jeffrey had arrived.
Monica had been with Sidney for twenty years. As his first employee, she had seen the spectacular growth of the company. Sidney had changed from a bespectacled pharmacist to a powerful captain of industry. Although Monica was extremely well-compensated, to look at her one would never know it. Her clothes had not been in style for many years, her hair was a mousy brown-grey, and she wore no make-up other than lipstick. The overall effect made her look as if she still belonged on the Midwest farm she left when she was eighteen years old. Monica had never married and was devoted to Sidney and the company. He was her life. She knew as much as Sidney did about the company he had founded.
Sidney said, "Monica, I want you to sit in on this meeting. I am going to have to fire Jeffrey Brooks. The reasons will become clear during the meeting. I know I don't need to ask you not to divulge to anyone what takes place in the meeting, but I feel better for having said it. This is probably not going to be pleasant, but it needs to be done and it needs to be done now. When we're finished, I want you to draw up a statement that our communications office can send to the press, but run it by me first. Now, please show Jeffrey in."
Jeffrey was surprised to be summoned to Sidney's office. This was a first for him. He couldn't think of any reason why Sidney Moore would want to see him. Things were on hold with his anti-aging hormone while they waited for approval by the FDA. He had many other experiments and tests underway, but nothing that would merit a summons to Sidney's office. He called Maria and told her he'd meet her in her office after meeting with Sidney. She, too, thought it was strange that Sidney had asked Jeffrey to meet with him, but decided it was probably something as simple as finding out how his experiments were coming along. She had heard that Sidney regarded Jeffrey as "the number one scientist" in a company where there were many fine scientists.
Monica opened the door to Sidney's office and asked Jeffrey to come in. He sat down in one of the chairs across the desk from Sidney and was surprised when Monica did the same. Sidney began, "Jeffrey, it has come to my attention that you have violated your contract with Moore Scientific Laboratories. I won't go into the particulars or how I found out, but I know that you have been administering the anti-aging hormone to your wife. As you well know, this is in violation of all that Moore Labs stands for, ethically and legally."
Sidney heard Monica gasp. He knew that this secret would be as safe with her as it was with him. He trusted her completely.
Jeffrey was in shock. His mind raced, trying to figure out how Sidney had found out. The only person who knew was Maria and she had everything to lose if Moore Labs ever found out what he was doing. He also knew she really did love him and she would never disclose "their little secret" to anyone. He was caught off guard and no plausible lie came to him.
"Jeffrey, as of this moment your employment with Moore Labs is terminated. You, as all the employees at Moore Labs, are an 'at will' employee, so I have the right to summarily terminate you at any time. I know you have been courted by pharmaceutical companies and even foreign countries regarding the anti-aging hormone. I want to emphatically state that our legal counsel has made it very clear to me that Moore Labs owns the rights to the hormone even though you discovered it. If you were to go to any of those third parties and sell them the formula, we would have no choice but to sue you. It would be difficult for both of us and your reputation would be destroyed.
"I have a proposition for you. Two million dollars will be transferred to your bank account tomorrow and another two million dollars will be transferred to your account in one year. Moore Labs will immediately issue a statement that you have taken an early retirement for reasons of health. If we hear of the drug being produced by any other drug company or in any other country, the second installment will not be transferred to you. We will then issue a statement declaring the true reason for your leaving Moore Labs. There is no point in signing contracts or agreements, as you clearly feel that they mean nothing to you. It goes without saying that Maria must leave Moore Labs as well. The necessary paperwork for both of your terminations is being prepared by HR as we speak."
Jeffrey couldn't believe what he was hearing. Where would he go? What would he do? He had so many new scientific ideas that he wanted to test. And yet, could he subject Maria, her family, and his family to a scandal? The scientific world was a very tightly knit world and bad news traveled fast. He knew he had better take the money and figure out later what he was going to do after he left Moore Labs. In spite of the money being offered, Jeffrey recognized that his future looked grim.
He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. Never in a million years could he have anticipated leaving Moore Labs under these humiliating circumstances. His mouth felt dry and for a moment, he felt like he was going to faint. He hadn’t cried since he had been a child, but right now all he wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position and sob like a baby. All of his hopes and dreams had been destroyed in a matter of moments. And how would he explain this to Maria, who thought he was the most brilliant scientist in the United States? He struggled with these feelings as he spoke to Sidney.
"I'm sorry. This is not how I wanted my relationship with Moore Labs to end. I wanted to win the Nobel Prize and Moore Labs was a big reason why I felt I could. What I did was really not that wrong. The only person I administered the hormone to was my wife and there are personal reasons for my having done that. I guess I have no choice but to leave as I can see that your mind is made up. Transfer the money to my bank account and we have a deal. My paycheck from Moore is deposited electronically into my bank account by the payroll department, so they have all the information they need to access my bank account."