Fire employees for being seen at prior employees business

[ckdavis]

What is the name of your state? Washington State

My husband just quit his job after 12 years to open his own business. My husbands prior boss held a meeting (this is an auto repair business) with the remaining employees to tell them if he sees any of his employees at my husbands new place of business and they are wearing a uniform from his business, he'll fire them. Can he legally do that? I'm assuming he'd just make up another firing reason. All these guys are my husbands friends to this day and come to the house often. He also says he wants to ruin my husband financially...all this after 12 years of working hard for this creep while maybe taking 5 days of sick leave the entire time. Thanks for your help!

 

[BelizeBreeze]

yes he can. He can also fire them if he had a bad taco for breakfast or his wife had a headache the night before.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? Washington State

My husband just quit his job after 12 years to open his own business. My husbands prior boss held a meeting (this is an auto repair business) with the remaining employees to tell them if he sees any of his employees at my husbands new place of business and they are wearing a uniform from his business, he'll fire them. Can he legally do that? I'm assuming he'd just make up another firing reason. All these guys are my husbands friends to this day and come to the house often. He also says he wants to ruin my husband financially...all this after 12 years of working hard for this creep while maybe taking 5 days of sick leave the entire time. Thanks for your help!

**A: then tell the friends to wear t shirts with your husband's biz name and logo when they come to visit.

 

[General Stoner]

What is the name of your state? Washington State

My husband just quit his job after 12 years to open his own business. My husbands prior boss held a meeting (this is an auto repair business) with the remaining employees to tell them if he sees any of his employees at my husbands new place of business and they are wearing a uniform from his business, he'll fire them. Can he legally do that? I'm assuming he'd just make up another firing reason. All these guys are my husbands friends to this day and come to the house often. He also says he wants to ruin my husband financially...all this after 12 years of working hard for this creep while maybe taking 5 days of sick leave the entire time. Thanks for your help!

Your husband's ex-employer is the best argument for mandatory psychiatric evaluations for executive/managerial/supervisory candidates everywhere.

 

[cbg]

Yes, he can do that. He's not saying they can't go there at all - just that they can't go there while wearing the uniform from his business. Since this could prove confusing, to say the least, to customers or potential customers, I'm not even certain that's entirely unreasonable.

 

[Beth3]

I assume your husband left his job to start up a competing business in auto repair. If that's the case, I certainly understand why the boss does not want his employees wearing their uniforms when visiting at a competitor's place of business. I expect you can too.

If he actually said he wanted to ruin your husband financially, then shame on him. Keep in mind though that he may not have actually said that. Unless you or your husband heard those words come out of the owner's mouth, then you can't be sure of what he said. It's certainly possible one or more of your husband's former co-workers are exaggerating things or putting words in the owner's mouth.