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Featured Companies
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A Friday Night Lesson
| Bill McCurry
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>> Published Date: 6/15/2010
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 The office phone rang at 9:00 Friday night. A former client had fired four people and needed to talk.
“John” owns a prosperous retail operation, including successful landscape design, and traditionally has more applicants than he has jobs. He treats his people very well, pays them 30% above average and works them very hard. He’s passionate about productivity and rewarding those who exceed both company and individual goals. The firm handles cutting-edge projects along with the routine jobs.
Monday John found out two team members were soliciting work, going directly to the potential customers. The fact they were doing this on John’s time and using the company’s phone and e-mail while being paid by John didn’t seem to bother them. John terminated them on the spot. By Thursday the company received their requests for unemployment benefits.
Also on Thursday, John talked to one of the remaining employees, “Dave,” after uncovering a relationship between Dave and one of the terminated employees. John asked if Dave would be okay staying on. These situations can be stressful and he would understand if Dave couldn’t continue to give 110%. Dave professed his undying loyalty and total commitment.
Being a family business, the situation was discussed and Mom decided to do a little detective work on her own. Searching through the public records at the Secretary of State’s office, she found a new LLC had recently been formed, whose four directors were Monday’s two terminated employees, a current staff designer—and Dave.
Friday, Dave was called into the office and asked whether or not he’s on the team. When Dave launched into his loyalty speech, John stopped him. “I understand you’re part of the XXX company the others are forming,” Dave denied it and forcefully said, “I want to know the scumbag who is trying to hurt me. Where are you getting these lies?” To which John replied, “The Secretary of State alleges they have your signature on the incorporation papers. You must remember signing those papers on …” John cited the exact date.
Dave immediately harangued John for not allowing his employees to get ahead, to be able to be entrepreneurs, etc. Dave was sent packing.
John came to a number of conclusions we should all consider:
- In the initial interview with Dave three years ago, he admitted he was fired from a bartending job in college because he gave his friends free drinks. The bar owner wrote it up as stealing. (That’s what John will say about him, too.) Dave had then bashed his former employer and took no personal responsibility. John remembered this interview clearly and it nagged at him for years. Should he have listened to his gut and not hired Dave?
- The Deep South state they are located has relatively solid non-compete laws between employer and employee. At a Short Course-type event, John heard someone say, “If you’re doing design work, get non-compete contracts that prohibit your employees from doing work for your customers if your employees leave you.” John had done this and had his attorney review the signed documents from these four former employees on Friday afternoon. On Monday they anticipate starting the process for a restraining order preventing the new company from contacting or working with any of John’s clients.
- The company policy book and new employee orientation procedures are being rewritten. More attention is being given to spelling out what belongs to the company and what belongs to the employee. This includes the fact that phones and email are company assets and used only for company business, subject to company monitoring, etc.
This entire area is a legal minefield. You need competent counsel to review your policies and procedures, and help you determine what you should be doing in these areas. One thing is certain from my Friday night call: Many employees have attitudes and ethics that don’t match our own. To protect ourselves and to keep our team focused on company-directed goals, we need a framework that educates those employees who don’t have the common sense we would expect. GP
Bill would love to hear from you with questions, comments or ideas for future columns. Please contact him at wmccurry@mccurryassoc.com or (877) McCurry, (877) 622-8779.
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