HLM -Chapter 1146 Firing Employees Isn’t Easy

After returning from town, Wang Bo asked Eva, “Have you noticed that the town feels a bit different from before?”

Eva frowned. “You can even sense that? I haven’t noticed anything.”

Wang Bo scratched his head. “I can’t put it into words, but it feels like the townspeople are a bit down.”

It wasn’t just his imagination. On Monday at work, Anderson, Bishop Rooney, and a few townspeople suddenly came to visit him.

Wang Bo greeted them warmly, but their moods weren’t enthusiastic.

“What’s going on? Did something happen?” he asked curiously.

Everyone looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked at Bishop Rooney.

The Bishop smiled and said, “Mayor, Sunset Town has developed very well and now has so many distinctive buildings. It’s truly wonderful.”

Wang Bo nodded silently, knowing there was more to come.

Sure enough, the Bishop continued, “You know, out of all the buildings and attractions, I think the best one is the library. My children and I love reading. It’s not just a place to gain knowledge, but also a place where we connect with each other.”

Wang Bo said, “Isn’t that great?”

The Bishop looked at him and slowly said, “We thought this library belonged to Sunset Town, to all of us. But some people said it’s only temporary, set up to attract Lincoln University, and that the books inside were rented.”

Hearing this, Wang Bo’s heart skipped a beat. When the Bishop mentioned the library before, he had a premonition—sure enough, the matter had been exposed.

Instinctively, his first thought was: who leaked this secret?

Few people knew about it. At the time, only a few of his trusted aides had been involved in the decision. They were tight-lipped and wouldn’t have revealed it.

Moreover, if the news had come from them, it wouldn’t have stayed hidden for so long—it would have spread already.

Then he thought of Hill. He had told Hill about this matter, and Hill had seemed regretful at the time. Maybe he had passed the information to someone else.

Thinking of this, Wang Bo felt some irritation. He hadn’t expected Hill to be so loose-lipped.

Seeing him deep in thought, the others felt uneasy. Anderson asked dejectedly, “Boss, is the library really temporary? I take my kids there every weekend.”

Wang Bo waved his hand. “Where did you hear that? Rumors like this aren’t worth taking seriously.”

A townsman asked hopefully, “The library isn’t temporary, right? Will it be open permanently?”

Wang Bo said, “Of course. A library is built to serve the town. Since I chose to build it, why would I remove it?”

Satisfied with this assurance, the group happily left. Outside the town hall, more people were waiting. When the Bishop relayed Wang Bo’s words, the crowd cheered.

Wang Bo stood by the office’s floor-to-ceiling window, waving at the people below with a smile while silently cursing.

Once the crowd dispersed, he quickly called Hill, complaining, “Hey, why did you spread what we talked about in private?”

Hill was confused. “What? What private talk?”

“The library matter!”

Hill immediately realized and said, “You think I spread this? No way! How could I do that! I swear on my literary career, I absolutely, absolutely never did that!”

Wang Bo knew his character. Since he swore like that, it was obvious the information didn’t come from him. That left the question: who else knew? Only him and a few trusted aides.

Suddenly, he remembered that when he chatted with Hill, one of Elizabeth’s subordinates had been present. That person must have heard it.

Wang Bo considered this possibility seriously and called Anderson, asking him to contact this subordinate, named Miles Walter, to investigate how the information spread.

Anderson didn’t need much thinking before he got the answer. Speaking with relief, he said that Miles Walter proudly admitted he had revealed it. If it weren’t for him, the townspeople would have remained in the dark.

Seeing Miles’s pride, Wang Bo was furious.

He had always felt the library was unnecessary. Lincoln University would open their own library in the future, and with the town’s small population, sharing would be enough.

But now, he had made a promise, which meant the library would not be removed, costing him an extra 20 million in funds.

Of course, he planned not to purchase additional books. The two batches he had were enough. As for the library’s appeal to Lincoln University? He could only pray.

Having employees who couldn’t keep a secret annoyed Wang Bo. He called Elizabeth over and decisively said, “I’m firing Miles.”

Elizabeth was surprised. “Boss, what happened?”

He explained the situation. Elizabeth was angry too. “He actually spread the library news? What a jerk!”

Ultimately, this issue stemmed from Wang Bo himself—he had been too careless, letting Miles overhear the secret. But adding fuel by spreading it further was a huge mistake. A leader never wants loose-lipped subordinates.

Still, firing an employee required careful consideration.

Since the founding of Sunset Town, he had never fired anyone. He had no experience in this.

In New Zealand, firing an employee requires very strong reasons and thorough preparation. Acting impulsively or hastily often backfires on the employer.

New Zealand labor laws are heavily biased in favor of employees.

However, truth and justice always side with law-abiding actions. If an employer can provide sufficient evidence and terminate an employee in a fair and reasonable manner, firing isn’t difficult.

For this, Wang Bo turned to Hani, an expert, asking, “In the public sector, what are legitimate reasons to fire an employee?”

Hani said, “Misconduct or dereliction of duty is best. Also, low work efficiency, minor breaches of the employment contract, unsafe behavior, leaking secrets, or snooping on confidential info—all are grounds.”

Wang Bo’s eyes lit up. “All of these can be reasons to fire someone?”

Hani shrugged. “Yes, but you can’t fire them immediately. When an employee commits these mistakes, you must follow the reasonable dismissal clauses, like the ‘three strikes’ rule.”

“What?”

“It means they need to mess up three times first.”