Legal Question in Business Law in California

Previously I asked a question on this board, and I believe that I worded it in a way that it is not being read correctly: https://www.lawguru.com/answers/question/show/yqUXDskxnO You would think that with a B.A. in English I could do better? Anyway, I would like to give it a second chance, in hopes of more information.

In 2008 I worked for a small Printing Company. I ran a very large digital press and also handled some design and file preparation, working anywhere from 40-60 hours per week. My partner worked there as well as Office Manager, and worked the same hours as we drove in together. The office was fairly small, including the owner, his partner, a design and color expert, accountant, and a gentleman in bindery.

Everything went smoothly for over half a year. Sometime during the 6th or 7th month I came across an odd e-mail. One of my job's (and everyone else's jobs, for that matter) was to check each e-mail on a constant basis. That means I had access to EVERY PERSON'S e-mail in the office. This was to make sure that no one forgot anything, and nothing fell through the cracks. One day when I was doing this I came across a strange e-mail -- as I said -- from a person I did not know. I did my research, trying to see if she was a client or otherwise, and a simple Google search showed that she was a prostitute. At this time I said nothing.

Several more e-mails came through from her over the following month. They talked about having sex multiple times, having a threesome with one of her friends, falling in love, and the gift of a GPS-Unit. Around this time my Boss hired two new people - a gentleman I was training on the machine as well as on pre-press, and another office girl - and he was about to go on a trip with CANON because the machine I ran was having continual problems. Being a quarter-of-a-million dollar machine, CANON was anxious to figure out hte problems so that they could continue manufacture, as this was supposed to be a machine that could handle the stress of a busy press.

Anyway, my boss's wife could not come with him on the CANON trip, nor could his partner. Instead he took the prostitute.

While he was gone my partner and I were discussing the goings-on of the office. I knew from the accountant that the man I was training was making more money than I was by quite a bit. My partner was also training the girl, who was getting preferential treatment because her mother had been an old crush of our boss's, and.. well, let's just say she was rather attractive.

I finally decided to approach our boss's partner asking for a raise, not wanting to stress our boss -- who I considered a friend -- during his vacation. During this process, I let the partner know that I was seeing e-mails that I would rather not see, that were of personal nature. I was trying to warn him so that this could be fixed.

Instead what happened was the Accountant learned all of this information and told our Boss before he got back. When he did, we were confronted and I explained that we had approached his partner because we did not want to stress him out wwhile he was having a good time... and that I had mentioned the e-mails hoping that his partner could warn him that personal information was coming through.

It was then that I found that that e-mail account was NOT supposed to be showing up on my computer, and that it was a personal account, of which I had NO idea.

Needless to say, things got very... tense after this. About a week and a half later we were approached by the partner who gave us our options: We could agree to sign a piece of paper stating that we would never tell anyone about our boss's transgressions and we would receive severance, and they would not fight us when we asked for unemployment. He also promised us good recommendations for future work. I told him that we would be happy to sign the piece of paper and continue to work for them, as we had no intentions of spreading the rumor (though we found out that everyone in the office knew anyway... since the e-mails were pretty obvious). Our boss denied this.

We had no option but to sign the paper, which we were never given a copy of. We received our severance and everything promised (though they weren't very good about the good recommendations). This was at the end of 2008, in October. We were then forced to move 'back home' because we couldn't afford to live where we were anymore.

Anyway, about two years later I was talking to someone about it, and he told me that it was all very, very illegal. He told us the paperwork was illegal, and that not receving a copy of our own was illegal. I believe he called it all extortion. So at this time we tried to find legal aid. We called various lawyers, went through Better Busness Bureau, etc., but could find no help. I've given up on suing.

Now, three years later there is only one thing I want to do. I want to tell his wife what happened. After all this time, I realize the only reason I didn't tell her was because I was hanging onto the idea that I had once been friends with our bosses, and that she had a young son. However, I don't think this is fair any longer. She was having marital problems with him when we were working there (other e-mails were seen coming through from her, that were pretty ugly between them, and basically showed that they were staying together for the son). She owns half the business, though she has nothing to do with it, because they got tax breaks by having a female own part of the business (this is only one of the shady practices they used, including buying items on Craig's List and not claiming them for taxes, claiming random items as business expenses, etc).

In short, I want to send her a well-worded letter letting her know what happened. I have e-mail proof of the transactions. THere was also the trip with CANON that could be traced. My partner is afraid that we will be sued for Libel, but I can't see how they would ever win like that. I do not plan to send a letter to anyone other than his wife, and she can make up her mind what to do with it form there. I am not asking anyone for money.

I want to know if this is safe to do. I do not want any help with ethics, as it is not the problem. I need to know what my options are PURELY from a legal stand-point. If you wish to speak with me more privately through e-mail to ask questions, please indicate so in your answer and I will e-mail you (providing your e-mail is in your profile).

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