Tell the truth to clear conscience over mistreatment of employee

Question
Recently, our company had to dismiss a long serving employee — actually my driver – over false claims. Two months later, I realised that I had been misled by the accounts department and that the problem lay elsewhere. While the man was paid all his dues, I deeply feel that we owe him an apology. How should I approach him or should I let him just go?

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The death penalty remains a highly emotive subject, and many countries have decided to eliminate it altogether.

Amnesty International (USA) has some chilling facts about the penalty, which the coach wishes to share with you, before answering your question.

Although half the homicide victims in the USA are African Americans, 79 per cent of those executed for homicide were convicted of killing white people.

Put another way, if you must kill, and you want to live, kill a black man in America. If you kill a white one, you will be killed.

The US General accounting office in a 1990 report found a pattern of racial disparities in sentencing and imposition of the death sentence that is racially based!

The single most reliable prediction of whether one will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim.

Studies by the reputable American Bar Association and the University of Maryland as well as the Yale Law School all support the racial nature of justice in the USA when it comes to the death sentence.

Senator Russ Feingold was forced to conclude thus: “We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment”. Your question has forced me to consider the whole question of morality of employers and the dictates of natural justice.

I have a great deal of sympathy for you and your driver. Let me explain.

Whereas all crimes should be punished as provided for by law, no innocent person should suffer for a crime they have not committed.

The balance between these two seemingly contradictory positions is at the heart of your question.

In some ways your question raises very basic questions about how we manage not just our criminal justice system, but how junior employees are treated at the work place.

As we have seen with respect to the black man in America, justice is but a delusion when it comes to the death penalty.

Similarly, for a “mere driver” the level of proof required to sack him is very low indeed and falls far short of the level of proof required for a senior officer.

This dilemma would seem to be at the root of your question, which is itself a manifestation of your own morality and commitment to justice and fair play.

The fact that the driver was paid in full does not seem to satisfy your moral instinct.

You argue in a sense that though fairly treated by the employer, justice was not seen to have been done.

In other words the fact that his dues were paid in full as per the contract, the system nonetheless failed to treat the driver like a proper and deserving citizen of the world.

It is as though we have different standards of care for the “wretched of the earth.”

I can see you awake in your bed at night, angry with yourself for losing sleep over the fate of a “mere driver”.

I can also see you turning and tossing for endless hours with a clear vision of the days your driver served you with loyalty.

How he picked and dropped your young family to and from school and how the wife spoke highly of him as a helpful gentle servant of the family.

You even recall how he kept secret those few moments of indiscretion at the work place when a female employee insisted on favours not allowed in the HR manual.

Yes, indeed this simple driver was in some ways a friend and occasionally even a companion.

It is now clear that your moral fibre is getting the better of you.

You will find some comfort in knowing that you are after all human and that you care.

You ask this question in part because you believe in justice and fair play for all men and all the time.

In fact some of the stress you suffer today arises from the memory of all these things you were taught by your parents and in Sunday school.

You find yourself unable to escape from your morally upright upbringing.

All children of God are equal, you keep thinking. I would suggest that you will be able to cleanse you conscience by calling the driver and telling him the truth.

After all, the old adage is true.

The truth shall set you free.