When the Workplace Becomes Peyton Place?

Question

My husband has been terminated from his job. To fill you in: He had an affair in the office. The affair ended. Both people were told to have no contact with one another. The Other Woman continued to have other secretaries deliver letters to my husband. He refused them. She tried to call him. He said don't ever call me again and hung up. She gossiped around the office about the affair. Finally, my husband went to the manager and explained what she was continuing to do, demanding that she be fired.

The unexpected happened. They were both terminated. The reason: They cannot co-exist in the same office and it would not be fair to fire one and not the other. My husband and I believe he's been wrongfully terminated. What do you think?

Answer 1

What I think is that you are an extremely patient and forgiving woman.

Unfortunately, your husband was probably in a better negotiating position before he walked out the door for the last time. When he went to management and said that the woman's behavior was continuing, he should have pointed out that he was abiding by company requirements by refusing to have contact with her. He could have made the argument that he considered the pestering behavior to be harassment--and ask that management put an end to it.

The fact that the two employees were formerly involved romantically is a complication that might make it harder for management to see the facts as black or white.

Your husband has two options. If he thinks it is at all possible to get a fair ear from someone in management at his old workplace, he should request a confidential meeting to discuss the situation--and the possibility of getting his old job back. He'll have to be careful. For better or for worse, your husband has become involved in destructive office gossip--and management is likely to frown on that.

He can write the whole thing off as a Big Learning Experience--and go about the task of looking for a new job in a new place, away far away from the former paramour. This solution holds a certain appeal. Perhaps his old employer might agree to write a good letter of recommendation and stay mum about the mess left behind.

While it may feel unfair that your husband was fired, I doubt that any lawyer in the world would take on his discrimination claim.