How the story really ends
"Illegal. How quaint," the executive said. His assistant recognized his mirthless smile, like an adult pretending to care about the prattle of someone else's child.
A quick, almost imperceptible gesture from the executive galvanized the assistant into action. After few quick phone calls and money transfers -- a few seconds of profit for the company, but a fortune to the mere millionaires in Congress -- the new law written by one of the company's many lobbyists had replaced the old, inconvenient one.
The assistant checked "gut labor law" off of the to-do list. There was no reward or acknowledgement from the executive, nor should there be. Bribing lawmakers was just another repetitive, low-skill task, like picking up the dry cleaning or berating the dog walker.