Chapter 44 - The Three Renewals
The three customer renewals were worth enough to keep Whitmore’s regional operation stable for another year. Two clients had already signed. The third had delayed its decision after receiving the questionable statement.
Grace’s team compared the client Q&A with the company’s internal records. The wording There is no confirmed exposure issue did not appear in any approved company statement. The phrase routine follow-up had been used in a Fieldstone draft, but it had been removed by company counsel.
“Someone kept sending versions that had already been rejected,” Daniel said.
“Or versions that were never approved,” Grace replied. “We need to trace each recipient.”
Melissa Grant provided a list of the client representatives who had received the Q&A. She said she had forwarded the document because Fieldstone told her it was the company’s approved response.
The emails from Fieldstone said, Victor’s team wants this sent before the renewal calls.
That statement could be verified through the original message records. The audit committee asked Victor’s attorney whether he had authorized the Q&A. The attorney said Victor would not answer without seeing the full email chain.
Charles told the board that the company would contact all three clients and correct the record. The directors agreed.
I joined the calls with Grace and the customer teams. We explained that the Q&A had not been approved, that testing remained underway, and that the company had no basis to make a final statement about past exposure.
The first customer was angry.
“You expect us to believe your new statement when your old executives were telling us something else?” its purchasing director asked.
“No,” I said. “I expect you to judge us by the records we provide from now on.”
The director asked for the test schedule, the safety procedures, and a copy of the audit committee’s public findings. We sent all three.
The second customer asked for a temporary price reduction while the investigation continued. Charles agreed to negotiate, but only after the board reviewed the financial impact.
The third customer, a regional pharmacy chain, said it would pause renewal discussions until the state agency issued its initial findings.
That decision meant possible layoffs if other contracts did not hold.
At the warehouse, the workers heard the news quickly. Marcus came to my office.
“Are they going to cut shifts?”
“I don’t know yet. We’re looking at the numbers.”
“People need to know before they find out on a schedule.”
“I’ll ask the board to commit to advance notice.”
The board agreed to provide at least two weeks’ notice of any shift reduction unless an emergency made that impossible. It was not a guarantee that no one would lose hours. It was a guarantee that the company would not surprise them with a sudden schedule change.
Earl was skeptical. “Two weeks is something. But people have rent due every month.”
“I know.”
The employee council proposed that executives take temporary pay cuts before the company reduced hourly shifts. Charles accepted the proposal for himself and asked the board to approve matching reductions for other senior officers.
The motion passed. I was included, though I argued that my own salary should not be part of it.
“You’re a vice president,” Earl said when he heard. “If the floor carries the risk, the office can carry some too.”
He was right.
By Friday, one customer had renewed with new reporting conditions. The second was still negotiating. The third remained on hold.
Then the state agency sent a formal notice that it had opened a broader inquiry into the company’s environmental reporting and contractor payments.
It did not accuse Whitmore of wrongdoing. It required the company to produce records from all four regional facilities listed in the deleted Fieldstone document.
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Grace read the list aloud.
The Grand Rapids warehouse was only the first site.
