Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Re: Termination of Employee

First, the former employee did indeed breach his duty of loyalty to you by performing work for a competing company. (It does not matter whether there was any non-compete or other signed agreement.)

You therefore were within your rights to discharge him, and could have done so anyway since he is an employee at will (unless he had an employment contract or is under a collective bargaining agreement).

In such a situation, there is no need to issue a letter of termination, although many companies do as a matter of recordkeeping. If you decide to do so, you can either simply say "As you requested, this letter of termination is to state that your employment ended on [date]." Or, you can include the bare facts - he was discharged for a breach of his duty of loyalty to the company since he was helping to operate a competing business and diverted company assets to the other business. (In fact, that is arguably theft, but there is no need to get into that kind of detail.)

On the other hand, you can simply send him a registered letter demanding that he return the property immediately as it belongs to the company and he is illegally in possession of it. (Anything you send should be registered/return receipt requested.) That too is theft. You can send such a note either in the termination letter, as a separate, second letter, or just by itself.

You can also offer to have the property picked up. Give him a deadline in the letter, have someone call to arrange a pick up time, and then send a driver to pick up the items.

Two other points. First, if you suspect the employee might become violent, then either send a security person to pick up the items or make sure to protect whoever deals with the former employee. It is wise not to invite him back to the workplace.

Second, assuming you agree that he was fired, then he will likely apply for unemployment. You can fight it by arguing that he was guilty of theft and dishonesty by diverting assets to the other company. It is hard to tell what Unemployment will do, but it is worth a shot.

If it is unclear that he has in fact been discharged, you should make that clear as well and can do so by virtue of the termination letter and/or the demand letter.

I hope that helps. If you feel you want to hire an attorney to help with all of this, please feel free to call me. I offer a free consultation to review the matter and see how you should proceed.

Jeff Sheldon

Jeffrey L. Sheldon, Esquire

The Sheldon Law Firm

17804 St. Lucia Isle Drive

Tampa, FL 33647

813.986.7580

(f) 813.986.7489

(Admitted in Fl., MD, D.C., and Pa.)

[email protected]

http://www.SheldonLawFirm.com

Disclaimer: This posting does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. It is not confidential, nor is it privileged, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please consult with an attorney for advice specific to the facts of your case.