Free Conflict of Interest (Employee Relations Book 1) by Teresa Michaels

don’t get the opportunity to make up my mind.
    “Lucas, you got a minute?” Fast approaching footsteps echo from behind. Turning around I watch Brandon, a fairly new manager on my team, jog down the hall toward me.
    “Sure.” He follows me to my office and closes my door.
    He holds up one finger, trying to catch his breath. “I need your help. I have a poor performer on my team who’s incapable of doing her job. I met with Gabby a few days ago and she refused to terminate her. She wouldn’t even let me put the woman on a performance improvement plan.”
    “Did she say why?”
    “Not really,” he shrugs and shifts on his feet. “Probably just getting in the way as usual, am I right?” He smacks my arm with the back of his hand and laughs like we’ve just shared an inside joke.
    We haven’t.
    My eyebrows knit together. “Not sure I know what you mean.”
    His eyes look anywhere but at me. “Umm,” is all he says, annoying me further.
    I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. “Stay here,” I command, and walk briskly to Gabriella’s office. I knock twice and enter. “Could you join me in my office straight away? Shouldn’t take long.”
    I return to my office without waiting for her response, thinking she’ll be hot on my tail. Minutes later she still hasn’t shown and I’m getting frustrated. Here I was asking her for something. Wasn’t her interest at least piqued?
    Finally, Gabriella joins us. “About time,” I mutter. Brandon snickers behind me and I instantly regret that I said the words out loud.
    Gabriella pauses by my side and leans closer. “I was in the middle of a conference call,” she quietly hisses.
    “I hadn’t noticed,” I admit.
    With her hand on her hip she straightens. “Clearly.”
    She raises her brows and watches me expectantly, waiting for me to get to the point for summoning her here.
    Why do I get such a rise out of pissing her off?
    Unable to think properly with her proximity, I clear my throat and walk to my desk, leaving her on the other side of the room. “Brandon was telling me that you won’t let him terminate a low performer on his team.”
    “That’s right,” she replies, changing her stance and cupping her hands behind her back.
    “Well…why not?” I ask.
    Here eyes close and she takes a deep breath. “Brandon came to me the other day stating that an employee on his team wasn’t performing and he was ready to move forward with termination.” She gives Brandon a sideways glance that’s controlled but also annoyed. “I asked him for specifics, as the employee has only been here for ten months, and I hadn’t heard of problems prior to our conversation.” She walks farther into my office, stopping a few feet from my desk, putting her an equal distance between Brandon and me.
    “Brandon said the issues had been going on for ‘some time’ and when I asked him for a timeframe he couldn’t give me one. He said the woman was consistently late and her weekly updates didn’t include the level of detail he was looking for. I asked what feedback he’d given the employee and his response was ‘none.’”
    I turn to Brandon. “Why haven’t you given her feedback?”
    He shrugs and looks to the ground. He finally lifts his head when I don’t speak and answers, “I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”
    Is he fucking serious?
    “How do you expect her to know she’s not meeting your expectations unless you give her feedback?” I demand.
    Brandon presses his lips into a thin line. He glances at Gabriella and then back at me. I get the impression she’s already asked him that. “It’s in the job description.”
    “I explained to Brandon a few days ago that it would be hard for an employee to understand there were performance issues if they’d never been told. Not only would terminating her be unfair, it would put the company at risk.”
    “At risk for what?” Brandon scoffs.
    Gabriella’s attention shifts to Brandon. “She’s a Hispanic