STORY 99
I was C suite with a national organization that has divisional offices.
I also was one of the only women in the C suite. I attended an out of town meeting with all the divisional offices. I was one of maybe 2 or 3 women among a group of 30 or so men. After a day of meetings, the entire group went out for dinner. Because of a medical condition I do not over consume alcohol. But my CEO did drink and he got very drunk. In fact, he nearly always got drunk at any social events. We were all waiting for cabs to take us back to the hotel from the restaurant, he and I were at the very end of the line, and he was standing behind me. As I was waiting, I looked down to see his hand come from behind, come between my legs, and grab and massage my vagina area. I was shocked! I am HR professional. I am well trained. I am a mature woman. But in that moment all I could do was run out of the restaurant and cab back to the hotel.
The VP Operations tracked me down, I told him what happened, and he helped me put myself together as we all had to travel by car together the next day. On Monday morning I was fired. No real reason was given. I was presented with a 3 month severance package and an NDA. The VP Operations went to the Board, told select Members what had happened, including a female lawyer on the Board, and he also got fired for whistleblowing. I wanted to press criminal charges but I was the breadwinner in my family. Instead my lawyer negotiated a larger severance package and I signed an NDA, forever promising not to speak about how my boss, the CEO, sexually assaulted me. To this day, I remain traumatized about what happened. Traumatized that I had to choose between paying my bills and pressing criminal charges. To this day, I remain traumatized that I cannot speak of what happened and I am the one left to explain why I am no longer there; but never being able to tell anyone the truth. Worse still, the company was just awarded Not For Profit of the Year. Their former CEO sexually assaulted me and they are Not For Profit of the Year? Hearing about their win over, and over, and over, knowing I had to sign an NDA and I can say nothing, warn no one, not set the record straight re-traumatizes me.
