Thought experiment: What if former Vice President Joe Biden were a high-profile CEO, and women at his company were publicly speaking up about how he’d made them uncomfortable over the years by touching them ― kisses on the head, shoulder rubs, nose nuzzles, hugs and so on?

Would he get to keep his job?

At a time when women are finally being recognized as human beings deserving of respect (that’s what the Me Too movement is), a good board of directors ― under strong public pressure ― would ideally tell a CEO who’d committed Biden-esque blunders to own his behavior, apologize and even resign.

Stepping down would mean more than any kind of apology, said Liz Stapp, a business ethics professor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.

“The deepest apology is behavior,” she said. “Self-imposed consequences.”

But Biden is not a CEO. He is not even officially running for office, though he is expected to throw his hat in the ring for the 2020 Democratic nomination. In recent days, Biden has been tripped up by accounts from seven women who say he made them uncomfortable in public settings by touching them. Examples: unwanted shoulder squeezes, hair sniffing, touching his forehead to theirs, a hand on the thigh.

On Wednesday, Biden offered an explanation of his behavior ― though not an apology for it ― in a video on Twitter. He was just trying to connect with people, he said. Times have changed, he said. He seemed to suggest he’d behave differently in the future, but it wasn’t clear how.

“Social norms have begun to change, they’re shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and I get it, I get it,” he said. “I hear what they’re saying, I understand it. And I’ll be much more mindful ― that’s my responsibility. That’s my responsibility, and I’ll meet it.”

In corporate America, a Biden-like character’s chances of survival would depend heavily on the amount of publicity around the situation, said Lauren Edelman, a law professor at Berkeley. She believes that under most circumstances in the business world, someone like Biden would be safe. “People tend to overestimate the impact of the Me Too movement on corporations,” she said.

Former CBS Chairman Les Moonves, for example, allegedly got away with far worse than Biden before he was finally ousted last year.

But times are changing: Ray Kelvin, chief executive of the fashion chain Ted Baker, stepped down last month after employees accused him of forced hugging and other misdeeds. (He’s denied the allegations.) HuffPost wrote about another woman who sued her boss ― the CEO of the company ― after he forced her to hug every day.

In most cases where men have been fired for alleged inappropriate behavior, it involved high-profile industries and individuals. “Joe Biden is a highly prominent figure of interest to the media, which raises the likelihood of dismissal somewhat,” Edelman said.

If Biden’s behavior had occurred in the workplace, it would fall into the category of “hostile work environment harassment,” Edelman said. The legal issue would be: Was the conduct pervasive enough to constitute sexual harassment?