A friend has just left a company that I was laid off from, in the process of leaving he sent a email to clients and active project accounts . Now the catch is that the Owner lied to several clients about the individual leaving as he knew that they may leave also, he was then caught in a lie and taken to task. In retribution he is now threatening to sue the former employee for what i am not sure.
I also had found out that after I was laid off he would take phone messages meant for me and tell them I was on vacation and that he would pass along the message (which he didn’t) he was also caught in this lie by someone and threatened me also with a nasty email.
So I am wondering if anyone has any insight into if he has a leg to stand on? And if the employee did anything wrong by letting people know he was no longer with the company.
That is an odd one. I’m not a lawyer, but my guess is that a lawyer would say there is no case there. I’m not sure if you can be sued for telling the truth. Again, not a lawyer, and it all depends how it is construed.
Now onto the more grey area as to whether your colleague should have informed clients he was leaving. If he is close with said clients then yes, but if not, then I would say he probably should not have, especially not from his former employer’s email. That is up to the company he is leaving to decide how they want to handle it. If they want to lie, it will eventually come out and come back to haunt them. Your friend had every right to announce he left to friends, on linked in, face book and what have you and if former clients see it, they see it. If he sent the emails from his own account and his own computer, that lessens it, but you don’t want to do the equivalent of turning over the tables on your way out the door when you leave somewhere.
Obviously the former employer should not have lied, and sounds like he is taking letting out his frustration on being caught out.