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Tom, an employee at Aztec Systems, was caught by Rose, a member of the cleaning staff, having sex, after hours, on his work desk with his wife. An upset Rose discussed the matter with Aztec’s human resources manager. The HR manager Fred, Tom’s boss Janet, and the company CEO Alan, decide that there was no disciplinary action needed since Tom and Janet were married. An angry Rose was faced with a difficult decision – whether or not to file a claim against Aztec Systems for sexual harassment. COMPANY BACKGROUND INFORMATION ztec Systems was founded in 1996 in Lincoln, Nebraska by three friends who wanted to use their computer skills to provide information services to the medical and insurance fields. Aztec served as a database storage host for medical insurance information. Hospitals and other medical service providers paid usage fees to access the Aztec database. Insurance companies also paid Aztec access fees for data on current and potential customers. Aztec was organized into three primary functional units: marketing, accounting/finance, and information services. At the time of the incident, the company also had a loosely defined human resources manager. The marketing department had four employees, a marketing generalist, a marketing proofreader, a graphic designer, and a chief marketing officer (CMO) who reported directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The accounting department had five employees, four accounting assistants and one chief accounting/financial officer (CFO) who likewise reported to the CEO. The bulk of Aztec’s employees worked in the information services department. Information services employed software engineers, program writers, and systems analysts. Information services employees engaged primarily in client troubleshooting, project development, and data entry. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) reported directly to the CEO. Relatively small at first (40 employees), Aztec quickly grew to over 200 employees working in three locations (Lincoln, Atlanta, and Corvallis, Oregon). Aztec secured contracts with over 50% of the market in which they compete. Aztec was in a strong strategic and financial position to be a leader in their industry. However, looming problems prevented Aztec from reaching their potential. PROBLEMS IN THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT Aztec’s marketing department was primarily responsible for hosting conferences and conventions for both the medical and insurance fields. The marketing department would host events and social gatherings in order to inform potential customers of the database services that they offered. Furthermore, the events provided an opportunity to sustain good relationships with their current customers. The marketing department also produced general informational and promotional advertising materials for the company. A Journal of Business Case Studies – Fourth Quarter 2007 Volume 3, Number 4 120 Tom Everett was one of Aztec’s original employees. However, Tom had not risen through the ranks at Aztec like many of his “ground floor” co-workers. In fact, Tom was still a generalist in the marketing department. His primary responsibilities were in customer relations, specifically making sure all of Aztec’s customers had a good time at the company sponsored conferences and conventions. Tom Everett was a fun-loving person who never met a stranger. He was the type of employee whom everyone loved to be around but who never did too much to get noticed at work. All of that changed on the evening of February 14. It was Valentine’s Day and Tom and his wife of eight years, Marsha, had big plans. Tom was working later than usual and the couple had planned to have a romantic dinner at Anthony’s Italian Restaurant close to the Aztec offices. Marsha decided to meet Tom at work and the two of them would ride to Anthony’s from Aztec. When Marsha arrived at 7 p.m. there were still several Aztec employees in the building but no one was left in the marketing department except Tom. Marsha walked into Tom’s office and pushed the door closed, or so she thought. The couple embraced, then kissed, then one thing led to another and they began having sex on Tom’s office desk. Rose had worked in the custodial department at Aztec for three years. She was a model employee and highly valued for her efficiency and professionalism in her daily work. Rose’s normal work hours were from 6:00 until 10:00 nightly. She cleaned the office spaces “after hours” in order to avoid disrupting the daily activities of the other Aztec employees. Rose made her way to the marketing department right on schedule. Her first stop was always Tom Everett’s office. Tom’s door was cracked open just like usual to allow Rose the access she needed. Rose opened the door to find Tom and Marsha. Embarrassed, she quickly apologized and closed the door. Tom ran out to stop her to explain, apologize, or whatever it would take to reduce the tension. However, Rose was quite shaken by what she had witnessed and would not stop to talk to Tom. Rose went home early from work that night. She wrestled with the decision of what she should do in the morning when she returned to pick up her paycheck for the week. A TURNING POINT FOR AZTEC Tom knew that there could be big trouble waiting for him if he did not get this situation resolved quickly. He immediately called Janet Parker, the CMO and his immediate supervisor. Janet set up a meeting at 8 a.m. the next morning with Tom to discuss the incident. Janet then called Fred Weatherly, the de facto human resources manager. Fred lacked a college degree, much less any formal human resources training. Fred’s previous employment was as the assistant director of parks and recreation for the city of Lincoln. Fred’s lack of knowledge and education in human resources management had resulted in no sexual harassment training whatsoever at Aztec. Now Fred, Janet, and Tom had to decide what to do. After their 8 a.m. meeting in which Tom recounted the events of the previous night, Fred and Janet decided that they needed to bring the CEO of Aztec, Alan Davidson, into the decision making process. In the meantime, Rose had arrived at Aztec to pick up her pay check. She had decided, after a fitful night of little sleep, that she had to tell Fred Weatherly in human resources what had happened and how uncomfortable the incident had made her feel. Fred nervously met with Rose, taking notes and asking a few meaningless questions. He thanked Rose for coming and assured her that nothing like this would ever happen again. Finally, after having met with all of the parties, comparing notes, and finding no tangible differences in Tom’s and Rose’s stories, Alan, Fred, and Janet had a decision to make: should they reprimand Tom, should they administer some other form of punishment, should they terminate Tom, or should they do nothing. After 45 minutes of back and forth discussion, Alan, Aztec’s CEO summarized their discourse by stating, “It was his wife, what can we do about that?” Fred and Janet, similarly disposed, agreed that no disciplinary action was needed. Fred was then given the task of informing Rose and all of the custodial staff that they needed to be more careful when entering someone’s private office to conduct their cleaning and maintenance work. Rose was extremely anxious and concerned about her future employment at Aztec as well as her next trip into anyone’s office to do her daily cleaning. Her anxiety was only fueled by her knowledge that Tom was not reprimanded in any way. Rose was furious with this outcome and found herself at another decision crossroad – to file a claim or not against Aztec. Journal of Business Case Studies – Fourth Quarter 2007 Volume 3, Number 4 121  Please direct all correspondence to the first author. An earlier version of this case was presented at the 2007 Southwest Case Research Association (SWCRA) Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA. The authors would like to thank Marlene Reed and Jennings Marshall for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this case. This case was developed based on interviews of actual staff employed at the firm in question. Disguises have been used to hide the location, industry, and names involved.

But It Was With My Wife: Failing To Address After-Hours Workplace Indiscretions