Chapter 2

"Mr. Samson, the officers from the Department of Labor are here."

It was 9:00 am the next day, and two men in suits came in behind Jenny. The man in the lead looked about 40, and the name tag on his chest read 'Caleb Smith'.

"You must be Mr. Samson. We received mass complaints from the public, claiming that your company is using the excuse of flexible hours to force employees to work extra hours."

"Please have a seat." I poured him a glass of water before continuing, "I have a rough understanding of the report against the company. What do you need from me?"

"There's no rush. Please have a look at this first."

Caleb showed me a stack of printed screenshots. "These are the chat histories we found online, indicating that you requested an employee to amend a proposal at 2:00 am. Also, several of your employees have revealed the situation of your company's flexible hours claim online."

"Several of my employees?"

"That's right. Besides Eddie Lundly, who was the first to make this statement, a manager from your company, Charlie Jenkins, and another employee, Mike Loeb, have also made similar statements."

I nodded and pushed a file that I had prepared earlier to Caleb.

"This is the working hours record of all employees in the past six months. The file also includes backend data from our attendance system and the overtime approval form. Every form has been confirmed and signed by the employees. Their extra hours payment can also be found in the file."

Caleb flipped through a few pages and frowned. "Is this really Eddie Lundly's total hours for this month?"

"Yes, it is. The company's flexible hours policy doesn't restrict the employee's working hours, but employees are required to calculate their total hours at the end of the month. If they don't fulfill the standard hours, their salaries will be deducted. Every employee has signed an agreement form about this."

"Then why was he working at 3:00 am in the office?"

"He has a habit of being absent from the office at the beginning of the month. When he fails to fulfill the standard hours, he'll start working through the night to complete his work. He chose to work until late at night to prevent his salary from being deducted.

"After that, he took a picture of himself in the office, claiming that he's constantly on standby 24 hours a day."

The other officer who came to the office with Caleb looked at the data before throwing Caleb a look. Caleb cleared his throat. "What about the issue of him having to amend a proposal at 2:00 am?"

I flipped to the page containing the complete conversation. "This is the original text. He left out two sentences when he took the screenshot."

Caleb was silent for several seconds after he was done looking through the file. "Mr. Samson, to be fair, the information you have provided is within the accepted workings of flex-hours for the employees. However…"

He continued, "This issue has caused an impact on society. We have received more than 300 complaints from the public, and we're required to look into this. I suggest that you make some changes to give the public some closure."

"What changes are you suggesting?"

"Canceling the flexible hours policy, for example, and reinstating normal working hours. At the very least, the public should see that your company is trying to change."

I leaned back in my chair and looked at him. "Mr. Smith, do you mean to tell me that there is no issue with our flexible hours policy, but I still have to change it just because this issue has blown up?"

Caleb sighed. "I'm just doing my work, Mr. Samson. I understand your predicament, but this situation will only get worse if you don't do something about it."

Jenny looked unhappy after he left. "Mr. Samson, Eddie was the one who made a false claim online. Why should we…"

"We're changing the policy."

Jenny was taken aback. "What?"

"He's right. The damage is done."

"How are you planning to change the policy?"

I started to type. "In the strictest way possible."

Ten minutes later, an announcement was made to the company's group chat.

[In accordance with the request of the Department of Labor, the flexible hours policy will be canceled from tomorrow onward. All employees are required to clock in at 9:00 am and clock out at 5:00 pm sharp. The company's internet and electricity will be cut off after work, and the office doors will be locked. No one is allowed to stay in the office after that.]

There was a short moment of dead silence before the news sank in, and everyone exploded right away.

[What?! My son's classes end at 4:30 pm, and I need to leave at 3:30 pm to pick him up. What am I going to do now that flexible hours have been canceled?]

[I live in the suburbs. I have to leave my house at 6:30 am if I have to make it in time for work at 9:00 am. That's four hours of commuting every day…]

[The internet and electricity will be cut off after work? What's going to happen to the code I have written halfway in the afternoon? Won't the clients get mad if our deployment is delayed?]

Messages continued flooding the group chat, but all I did was place my phone face down on the table.

Someone knocked on the office door, and Charlie entered the room. "Mr. Samson, isn't it a little too rash to make a decision like this for the company?"

I looked at him without saying a word.

"Canceling the flexible hours policy will hurt the company. How about talking things through with the Department of Labor? I think I can represent everyone at the company to negotiate this with them."

"Why would you want to negotiate this?" I asked.

He replied, "Well, we should find a middle ground."

"Charlie, that post you left online yesterday made things clear, didn't it?

There was a twitch on his face.

I said, "You should be happy that the company took action right away."

Charlie tried to say something but could not.

"Mr. Samson, Mr. Jenkins is right. Maybe you should reconsider this." Mike suddenly appeared at the door.

I said, "I've considered this well enough. All employees are required to be at the office at 9:00 am sharp. Anyone who is a minute late will be penalized according to the company's policy."

With that, I brushed past them to walk out of the door. By then, Charlie's face had turned pale.