As I pointed out to someone else a few moments ago, I am very grateful that the UK has far more employee protections in law than the US, where idiocy like this can run amok. At any rate, the sheer ghastliness of this scenario is darkly hilarious and, I suspect, a gruesome reality for certain people stuck in the various levels of corporate hell. Stories like this make me profoundly grateful I made the leap to full-time writer. :)