"Disgruntled" (?) ex-employee

Paige

At what point do you take precautions against a disgruntled ex-employee and what should those precautions be?

We let go an employee last month mainly due to his inability to get along with his supervisor (there was issue after issue that led up to this). A few of his responses were a bit "quirky"--certain things that he said. We eventually ended up terminating him citing, "things just aren't going to work out."

His behavior since then has not quite been enough to call it harassing, but certainly odd. I won't get into specifics unless it would help, but here's the latest--he supposedly just started a new job. Over the weekend, he sent an e-mail out to everyone in the office he worked in (only about 6 people). The e-mail included his written reprimand and then a response to the supervisor. In the response, he mentions that the whole ordeal has bothered him emotionally, to the point that he has had nightmares.

I also just learned that there were times when he stood on a corner outside near the building. He never did anything--other than say hi to a couple of staff members when they went to lunch, but that was it.

Do we need to do anything beyond keeping an eye on this? What if the e-mails keep coming? Should I contact the ex-employee directly about this?

Ay-yi-yi.

HRinNH

Aside from it being a free country and he can stand wherever he wants and e-mail whomever he wants, it does creap one out to think he can't let go and it vocalizing his frustrations this way.

I'm not a lawyer so aside from what's legal to do here, I'd begin by offering to have someone walk the supervisor to his/her car after work. I'm sure others will chime in with bigger ideas. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Gillian3

There's nothing much to do, other than walk the supervisor to the car if the supervisor thinks that the actions are threatening and advise the employees to ignore the E-Mails. Usually, the lack of attention from the employer will cause the problem to end. If there is any overt threat, call the police.

Dasher

Ditto, Gillian's response to you.

pork1

I agree, but caution employees about the inbound e-mails and NO BODY IS TO RESPOND, it is not company business. If we don't respond then sometimes the person will get the message and go away. We have in a few cases issued the individual a written NO TRESPASS letter, which alerts the person that the next step is the calling of the authoities. This letter seemed to have worked and the issue has faided away over time.

PORK

deniseE

We've had similar issues. Your IT staff should be able to "block" his emails at the door. This will prevent current ee's from even seeing his rants. We have also sent letters to the former ee advising that they are to have no further contact with our office/staff. Any additional attempts will result in notifying the authorities.

One of the lawyers can jump in, but I recall that one of ours thought that the continued e-mail contact could be some kind of electronic theft since is was using our business resources for other things. It's probably a stretch.

E Wart

First and formost, get with your MIS person and get them to block his access to the system (you can surely obtain his email address from emails and block it.) He could very well change it and use a new one, but doesn't sound as if he would go to that much trouble. Mostly wants to cause an uproar.
I bet if you talk with your employees, they think he is "crazy" and ignore him anyway. However, I would ask them not to reply or do anything that would continue this type of behavior and hope it will stop.
It doesn't sound as if he is dangerous, just wants to cause trouble. Ignore him.
E Wart

TN HR

I just had something similar to this happen. There are harrasment, nuisance, etc laws that can be braodly interpreted to cover this sort of behavior. For $150 your retained counsel can write the mother of all hate letters. It worked for us.


Good luck.

Gene

Balloonman1

I would bring my Glock 9 mm into work with me for a while, so if he flips out, you can be the hero and take him out. Remeber the golden rule:
"Don't shoot innocent employees"
My $0.02 worth...
The Balloonman

Paige

Wow--best piece of advice I've heard so far (not really--just trying to appease you to avoid any repurcussion from you). Do you give this type of advice out often?

To everyone else--thank you. We blocked his e-mail address from our system and I sent a note to everyone who received the e-mail letting them know we were handling the situation. Hopefully, he's said his peace and he will move on.

Thanks for the advice! (You, too, Baloonman!)

Balloonman1

Actually not often, probably more just dark humor as life has not been kind the last few weeks.................
I have on two occassions considered doing the above based on work situations. Either a termed employee or one that was disciplined. Have even had two terminations that before leaving the building at night for a week or two, I went an looked out the windows, even scanned the adjacent parking lots........... just to make sure I did not walk out into a bad situation. In all of those situations, I made sure that I stayed alert, though no firearms in the car did keep a bat or something that would be effective if needed.
Be alert, and don't think that it can't happen to you or where you work and you should be fine.
My $0.02 worth,
The Balloonman

hrdir03nafcu

Paige:

Your description immediately raises my "wacko alert"! Anyone who would copy his reprimand/response to former co-workers, talking about "nightmares" sounds like a wacko to me.

Unfortunately, if he really IS a wacko, it's probably a risky matter to respond to him or in any way do anything that might further provoke him.

He can e-mail whomever he wants, so you can't ban him from e-mailing your staff. But I agree with the good advice re: having your IT block his e-mail address(es).

If he continues to loiter near your building, you can issue him a letter banning his physical person from your premises, on threat of charging him for trespassing-- and you don't even need a lawyer for that. You can't ban him from the street/sidewalk, but you can ban him from your building/ofc suite. We had to do this in the case of 1 former EE... and it seems to have worked to keep him out of our building in that case. But sending such a letter to this guy might serve to escalate his hostility to the next level.

If I were in your situation, I think I would block his e-mails for now, but take no further action, and hope he gets tired of his own antics and goes away of his own accord.

Good luck!

HRLASS

All of the above with a couple of additional suggestions. We have onsite security and photo badges. When this happened recently (though more threatening problems), in addition to everything mentioned, we printed the photo from his badge and distributed it to our security personnel with directions to make sure the individual was not allowed on company premises. Since our situation was more severe, and the first threatening letter from our attorney didn't work, the attorney actually had to go to court and get a restraining order against the individual. (The police had already been called multiple times.)
Fyi, it is true that you can take legal action against someone who sends to many emails to the company for monopolizing the employer's equipment and there was a successful case of that happening within the last year against a former employee in a situation similar to yours, but with considerably more email traffic. Can't remember where...

Paige

OK--he's back...

We blocked the e-mails and made sure people knew not to respond to him--that all went fine.

He has now taken it upon himself to mail a letter to his former supervisor's house addressed to the supervisor's wife. The wife hasn't opened it.

This is getting creepy--if I send a letter asking him to stop, that could upset him; if we ignore him, he'll either 1)stop, or 2)keep doing things.

Do I involve an attorney at this point?

HRLASS

You're getting closer to the situation we had. We sent "the letter" which had no effect whatsoever and he escalated. First, let the police know. What worked best for us was to make all the reports to the same officer who then understood the escalation of events. I don't know if one letter to the supervisor's wife would be enough for further action. Our guy started following two employees' kids, reporting on where they were when he was watching and threatening them, which had everybody on edge. Our attorney went to court, with the support of the police officer, had a hearing where the individual had to be present, and got a temporary restraining order which also included a talk from the judge to the former employee. The restraining order was protection for the Company (we had lots of threatening emails and standing outside work areas) and for the supervisor and one other senior employee who had assisted with his termination and was receiving considerable threats. To date I have heard of no further problems.

HRinGA

I'm sorry to hear he's back. I was hoping he would get a life since he found another job. In my opinion, you have to involve your attorney and/or the police. Taking the time to address a letter to the wife is freaky. Who knows what he may do next?
You did the right thing by blocking emails, and basically ingnoring him, but now it's time to sit up and take notice. By that I mean involve the law.
Good luck!

dchr9203

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-01-05 AT 01:10PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I recommend reading "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin De Becker, a forensic psychologist. While the book is about assault crimes and that instant in which a victim had a gut feeling that something was wrong and possibly could have "escaped", one of the things he talks about is harassers. In their sick way, they are seeking affirmation. Everytime you respond to their contact, no matter if you call them names, scream at them that you're calling the police, etc, to their warped psyche you have responded and they have been affirmed; therefore, they keep coming back for more. A very interesting book. Having said that, this person's behavior is creepy and threatening and I would not attempt to write him, call him, speak to him until you have contacted the local law enforcement. Seek their advice before spending money on an attorney. Take all the facts and documents, including the letter he wrote to the supv wife. They can give you guidance on how best to handle it.

LivindonSouth

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-01-05 AT 01:51PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Sadly, most police departments will tell you there's not much they can do unless/until he assaults someone, threatens someone with bodily harm or trespasses. Might be a good time to contact your underground about vigilante justice in the community. It exists everywhere. Maybe 'that's' the type of affirmation he needs.

ritamcguire

Just a thought. By e-mailing his ex-coworkers and especially by sending a letter to his supervisor's wife (i.e., outside any possible work environment scenario), I believe this guy has legally crossed the line and is now guilty of "stalking" which is a crime in most areas. You need to express this thought to your local authorities, not to a lawyer.

Dasher

. . . and if the letter contained threats you can also get the postal inspectors involved.

Balloonman1

Paige,
See my original post the this #8. x:D
The Balloonman

Paige

A-haaaa--now I see where you're comin' from.