My Experience with Hush Money

Not to brag, but Bragg has nothing on me.

Circa 1985, I flew from New York to Chicago to deliver a check for $25,000, or $70,000 in today’s money.  It was a payoff to keep someone silent.

It was one of the scores of payoffs that I had made up to that date and would make beyond that date over my career at the leading edge of equal rights, equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity, and racial sensitivity training.

The check was for a former sales manager of my employer, one of the largest consumer products companies in the world.  Because of confidentially agreements, I can’t mention the name of the former employee or the company.

A Black man, the sales manager had been fired for not meeting his quantitative sales goals and had been given a nice severance package.  He had been hired by my predecessor as part of a big affirmative action push by the company.  The push had sometimes resulted in the lowering of hiring and promotion requirements in order to meet numerical goals—a shortsighted policy for sure. 

A few weeks after being let go, the ex-employee contacted me to say that he was on the board of a major civil rights organization and included a photo of himself standing on a dais with the head of the organization, a nationally known figure who had presidential aspirations.  He said that the organization was interested in going to the press to accuse my employer of discriminating against African Americans.  His message was unspoken but clear:  Pay up to make us shut up.

That triggered a series of negotiations with the guy over the phone and in person.

This was just one of many racially sensitive matters that I would handle over my career, including investigating scores of claims of discrimination against my various employers.  About half of the complaints had merit and half didn’t.  I had also fired many White male managers for discriminating against so-called people of color and women, or for just being insensitive jerks.

A common understanding among employers back then still exists today: that White males under the age of forty are unprotected by anti-discrimination laws and EEOC precedents, and thus can be fired summarily without cause.

There was no merit to the guy’s claim that he had been fired because he was Black.  But the matter came down to a financial calculus:  How much would it cost the company in management time, legal fees, and reputational damage if his demands weren’t met and he filed a complaint with the EEOC or went to the press?  Clearly, it would cost much more than $25,000.

So, that’s how I ended up flying from New York to Chicago.

Because the $25,000 payment was legal and properly accounted for by the company, there was no falsification of business records and no criminal conduct, unlike what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has claimed in his indictment of Donald Trump.

Don’t take that for bragging.  Although perfectly legal, it was still an unpleasant experience that did nothing to further equal rights and equal opportunity.

Thirty-eight years later, much of what passes for diversity and inclusion still doesn’t further equal rights and equal opportunity.  Someday, the nation will get it right.