The code section to be interpretated:
Code 1.2 – Any employee of The Company shall be guilty of misconduct if they perform or offer personal favors for any other employee or offer or give personal property with the stated or otherwise demonstrable expectation of receiving work, money, personal favors, or advancement in return.
Examples of misconduct under this code:
- Employee A bakes cookies and offers them freely to other employees each day until other employees come to rely upon them. Employee B occassionally enjoys one of the cookies. Employee B must choose another employee to accompany them on a business trip to an area near the homes of relatives of Employee A that Employee A hasn’t seen in a while. Employee A hears about the trip and asks Employee B to choose them, citing all the times that Employee B enjoyed the cookies as justification. Employee B decides to take Employee C who is more qualified to perform the work which will be performed on the trip. Employee A complains about how ungrateful Employee B is. Employee A gave personal property in the form of cookies to Empoyee B, then expected to receive a personal favor in return. Employee A is guilty of misconduct under code section 1.2.
- Employee A must occasionally submit work to Employee B for an expert review, but Employee B is very busy. Employee A has a fast approaching deadline, but must obtain Employee B’s review before proceeding. Employee A approaches Employee B and offers to give Employee B the use of a valuable and impressive classical automobile belonging to Employee A for a weekend in exchange for getting Employee B to review Employee A’s work instead of the reviews that Employee B already had scheduled. Employee A is offering a favor in exchange for work. Employee A is guilty of misconduct under code section 1.2.
- Employee A is being persecuted by a group of people outside of the company for something which is not a violation of The Code of Business Conduct by Employee A, such as Employee A’s race. Employees B and C see the trouble and make a public show of defending Employee A but not on the principle that all people like Employee A should be defended, then they privately tell Employee A that they are “friends” now and that this “friendship” comes with certain obligations that Employee A must fulfill. Employees B and C are performing personal favors with the expectation of receiving personal favors in return. Employees B and C are guilty of misconduct under code section 1.2.
Examples that are not misconduct under this code:
- Employee A bakes cookies and offers them freely to other employees each day until other employees come to rely upon them. Employee B occassionally enjoys one of the cookies. Employee B must choose another employee to accompany them on a business trip to an area near the homes of relatives of Employee A that Employee A hasn’t seen in a while. Employee A hears about the trip and asks Employee B to choose them, offering to supply extra work in order to earn participation in the trip. Employee B decides to take Employee C who is more qualified to perform the work which will be performed on the trip. There is no misconduct.
- Employee A must occasionally submit work to Employee B for an expert review, but Employee B is very busy. Employee A has a fast approaching deadline, but must obtain Employee B’s review before proceeding. Employee A approaches Employee B and communicates Employee A’s needs and learns about Employee B’s other review work. Employee A then calls a meeting with Employees B, C, D, and E and they work together to determine which reviews need to be prioritized. Employee A’s work is not prioritized and Employee A must attempt to negotiate with the deadline setter for an extension of the deadline or a waiver of the requirement for review. There is no misconduct.
- Employee A is being persecuted by a group people outside of the company for something which is not a violation of The Code of Business Conduct by Employee A, such as Employee A’s race. Employee B sees the trouble and defends Employee A when possible on the priniciple that all people like Employee A should be defended from such persecution. Employee C hears about the trouble second hand and decides not to become involved to avoid the risk of retaliation from the outside group. There is no misconduct.
