Suspended is it legal?!

J

joe

Guest
A friend of mine has just been suspended from their employment & I'm not sure if the company is correct in doing this. Here is the background info:

A manager from Company A has moved to a similar type company, Company B, but not in direct competition. They were asked to sign a document to say that they could not "poach" any employees. They signed this & left. A second Manager from Company A has resigned & is in the process of moving to Company B (Company A tried to sue the original managar but had no leg to stand on as the second Manager had applied directly to Company B themselves) Ok, This friend of mine works for the 2nd Manager & he asked her to send him some training documentation (he is still with company B) however, when she sent the documentation, she accidentally sent it to his new e-mail address (company B) as he had e-mailed her from this the previous day & it automatically picked it up.

With all of this background information, I really don't feel it's her fault. Can anyone advise if this was a legal move by Company A?

She has never signed a confidentiality form either.

Thanks,
Joe
 
when she sent the documentation, she accidentally sent it to his new e-mail address (company B) as he had e-mailed her from this the previous day & it automatically picked it up.
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Given that she knew he was an employee of company B at the time that she sent on the material, I'd say she is on very dodgy ground. The point about the email address seems to be a red herring. If she HAD used his old email address, then surely he wouldn't have been able to pick up the message (presuming that the company A had disabled his email account)
 
Hi Rainyday,

Sorry, no it was a pure accident. He is still with Company A & his e-mail address is still active. He was in the office that day & as he was rushing out the door he asked her to send it to him. She did it straight away & obviously didn't check the e-mail address it was going to.

Also, the documentation she had sent to him is actually available on Company A's website.

Thanks,
Joe
 
2 workd addresses at once

This sounds strange.

How did she even have his new work address?
 
Hi Decbuck,

He had e-mailed her from the Company B e-mail address the day before and it automatically picked this up when she typed in his name.

Joe
 
Re: 2 workd addresses at once

Joe,

What was the official reason given for her suspension ?

Was there something in writing to inform her of the suspension ?

How did company A find out that your friend had sent the information to Company B ?

If ALL the information sent (by mistake) is freely available on Company A's website then there should be no question of competitive info being released and in my opinion the suspension is an over reaction.

Is this a small company by any chance, or a family run business ? Is the owner / manager annoyed that two of his / her managers have left for the competition and is taking it out on your friend ?

Is there a union in the office your friend could approach ?

Let us know how it turns out

efm
 
How was she caught

How exactely was she caught. Did her manager come up to her and say we have been monitoring the mail yuo have been sending?

I'm not sure about the exact policies and legal issues are with tracking someones mails they are sending without their permission.

It is usually not common practise to have people going through the mails you send.
 
Thanks all,

Ok some more answers:

The IT department checked her e-mail & found this going to Company B

She got nothing in writing was just told she was suspended pending investigation & told to go home until Monday.

She had no witness with her (their own policy)

No, it's a big enough company & there is no union.

Tks,
Joe
 
Is your friend suspended with pay or without pay? Is company A unionised? Does company A have a diciplinary procedure? If so is the policy widely known and folllowed? Was it followed in this case? Was her accuser(the person who confronted her with the alleged offence) and judge (the person who suspended her) the same person?

ajapale
 
From my limited experience I would say that so far Company A have done nothing wrong legally.

The employee has been suspended pending an investigation (and I presume on full pay) - she will have to wait for the outcome of the investigation and the subsequent actions by Company A before seeing if there is anything illegal in Company A's actions.

They may turn around on Monday and say you've done nothing wrong and / or the information you sent was freely available anyway so no action will be taken against you.

If Company A turn around on Monday and suspend her without pay, or dismiss her then there might be a case for unfair dismissal IF, and only if, all that you said in your first post is true and provable - ie that it was a genuine mistake and that the info is freely available on the website.

As an aside - would she or you be able to download this information from the website and save it as proof that the info was in the public domain ?

efm
 
Hi ajapale

No Union
Not sure if she was suspended with or without pay
Yes they do have a disiplinary procedure, but they actually didn't follow it themselves in this instance

The accuser & judge were the same person. And to anwer EFM1's earlier question. This guy is extremely p**sed off at losing her Manager. Probably is taking it out on her.
 
Suspended is it legal

Hi EFM1, I tend to agree. I guess it all comes down to what they say to her on Monday, so we just have to wait. I do think they over reacted slightly. She is a loyal employee & is well liked & respected.

Yes, we have pulled down this info already - Just in case they take if off line !

Tks all, will keep you posted.

Joe
 
...

the accuser and judge cant be the same person. They are on farily shaky ground and probably know it.
 
Hi Joe - I'm still confused.

He is still with Company A & his e-mail address is still active.
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He had e-mailed her from the Company B e-mail address the day before and it automatically picked this up when she typed in his name.
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Are you saying the manager was employed by BOTH companies at the time she sent the email? This would be highly unusual, especially where A is a large company.
 
Hi Rainyday,

I know, it's very confusing. He is still working for Company A, but was visiting Company B on his own time (he is not offically employed by them yet).

He met up with the first Manager who left Company A & she is the one who had his e-mail address activated in the new company (company B)

Joe
 
Hi Joe - Thanks for the clarification. This is highly unusual. I've never heard of somebody getting an official company email address BEFORE they have been employed. In some cases, it's a struggle to get the damned addresses set up for new employees.
 
There is nothing unusual about having email addresses set up in advance - if you know someone is starting next Monday it makes sense to have their IDs set up on the various systems in advance rather than making them wait for a few days while everything gets configured.

I would think the real focus of attention for the company in question would be the fact that someone still nominally working for them sent emails asking for company information (confidential or not) from another companies email address. This shows that the manager was *actively* doing work for the other employer while still engaged with his original employer.

The fact that someone was asked to send content to her manager isn't a problem. It is fair to asusme that she thought she was sending the content to the manager at his original address.

The real problem lies with the manager asking for the content from a non-company address - in my view this shows that he was actively working for a competitor while still employed byhis original employer.

z
 
if you know someone is starting next Monday it makes sense to have their IDs set up on the various systems in advance rather than making them wait for a few days while everything gets configured.
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True - but that's not really the issue here. The issue is that the new account at company B was IN USE while the manager was still an employee of company A.
 
Rainy - that's the point I was making too. The person who almost definitely breached the rules of company A was the manager who logged into his account in company B and sent mails to his *current* employer from it.

The person who responded may or may not have been aware that she was responding to a non-company-A address, but the manager *was* aware that he was sending from it.

z
 
The employer is absolutely right to suspend the employee in this situation. A potentially very serious abuse of confidentiality has taken place and the company must protect itself. The right thing is to get the person off the premises immediately while conducting the investigation. They can't wait until long winded disciplinary procedures have been adhered to as the risk is too great.

Don't forget that your friend has been suspended - not fired or disciplined in any way.

She should write immediately to the employer asking them to process the investigation as quickly as possible and pointing out that she is available to meet with them to answer any questions.

Brendan
 
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