Ex Employer trying to damage my reputation

MissMotivation

Not sure this is the right place for this or whether anyone can help but need to get this off my chest and to see whether I can do anything.

I'll try to keep this short.......In January of this year I left (by mutual agreement) my ex employment. It's a long story but very very briefly I had been at this company since the day it started and had been instrumental in growing the business to the point where it is/was one of the most successful firms of it's type in the area. During my first year of employment there, there was just me and the owner of the business and everything was running smoothly until he, quite frankly, started taking the mickey! For example he would regularly leave me in the office by myself for long periods of time whilst he was just "popping out". I was easily doing the work of 3 people, working for 8.30am - 8.30/9pm in the evening to get the work done. He never once during the whole 19 months I was there paid me on time! I began to get frustrated at the way the business was being ran and expressed concern over the way he was treating clients, not complying with rules/regulations and some very dubious clauses he had inserted into our contracts. Things got very difficult and, if I'm completely honest, I started to slack! He stated on several occasions that if I left his employment and went to work for a competitor then he would make my life "extremely difficult". There was a clause in my employment contract which stated that I was unable to work for a competitor within a 5 mile radius for a period of 6 months after my employment was terminated.

Things came to a head in January and we agreed mutually that it wasn't working out and I left. Because I was so worried about working for a competitor I went to work in a city 30 miles away, unfortunately this didn't work out and I came back to my hometown in June and went to work for a competitor.

I still have friends that work for him and, being such a small town, he started to hear rumours that I was back. For the past 2/3 months he has done everything he can to try and track me down, including coming into my office demanding to be told if I was working here (luckily I was off that day). Ringing my new Employer and asking them if I was working here. Demanding to know if any of my ex work collleagues had heard from me and if so then they must tell him, etc etc etc.

In the last two weeks he has moved up a gear and has slated me to potential clients saying things like "you do know I had to sack her when she worked for me" and "she wasn't very good at her job" etc.

Luckily these two clients have had previous dealings with me and know me well enough that they didn't believe him anyway but it makes me wonder how many other people he is saying things to that I'm not hearing about? It's a fairly small town and reputation is very important, also he did not sack me and if I wasn't that good at my job then why is his business so successful? It certainly wasn't down to his hard work!

Anyone got any ideas on how to handle this?

SarEl

Truthfully - there is very little that you can do. You could get a solicitor to write to him - but it will cost you to do that. Unless it is actually doing you some quantifiable harm (costing you something that has a price tag on it) there is nothing that can be done - and realistically even then there is little prospect of doing much.

MissMotivation

Thanks for that SarEL. In truth, he could potentially cost me business. It's difficult to quantify because I'm sure that there will be potential clients that we both visit that may not see through his attempts at discrediting me and decide to use his company and not mine.

I'm just lucky that I heard about the other two attempts. I'm happy to pay for a Solicitors letter if that is the only way.

Jarndyce

Hmm. You need to judge whether this is likely to blow over if he realises you are not a threat, or whether he is likely to continue his behaviour.

If the latter, then I think maybe a shot across his bows with a solicitor's letter threatening further action (even though in practice there is unlikely to be any action you could realistically take) might do the trick. I know what its like working in a small town and its the sort of thing that needs to be nipped in the bud if it is unlikely to stop naturally. Its your judgement.

MissMotivation

Jarndyce wrote: »

Hmm. You need to judge whether this is likely to blow over if he realises you are not a threat, or whether he is likely to continue his behaviour.

If the latter, then I think maybe a shot across his bows with a solicitor's letter threatening further action (even though in practice there is unlikely to be any action you could realistically take) might do the trick. I know what its like working in a small town and its the sort of thing that needs to be nipped in the bud if it is unlikely to stop naturally. Its your judgement.

I think that part of the problem is that I AM a threat to his business and that is why he is doing this.

I've been in the buisness longer than him, I'm more qualified that him, I'm a local person and he is not and I have taken business from him over the last month because of this. I've been very careful about not "poaching" his clients but it's a small town and there is always going to be clients moving from one company to another.

Jarndyce

MissMotivation wrote: »

I think that part of the problem is that I AM a threat to his business and that is why he is doing this.

I've been in the buisness longer than him, I'm more qualified that him, I'm a local person and he is not and I have taken business from him over the last month because of this. I've been very careful about not "poaching" his clients but it's a small town and there is always going to be clients moving from one company to another.

In that case I think a letter is appropriate.

Just a thought - there wasn't anything in your previous contract which prevents you from setting up in competition within a certain distance and/or in a particular period was there?

MissMotivation

Jarndyce wrote: »

In that case I think a letter is appropriate.

Just a thought - there wasn't anything in your previous contract which prevents you from setting up in competition within a certain distance and/or in a particular period was there?

Yes......it stated that I was unable to work for a competitor or set up my own company within a 5 mile radius for a period of 6 months after termination of employment. I've not got the contract with me but thats roughly the wording in there.....I thought that this clause was unenforceable? I spoke to ACAS about this and they said that it's an unenforceable term?

ILW

You are his direct competition so get used to it.

MissMotivation

ILW wrote: »

You are his direct competition so get used to it.

I know this and I'm happy to have "healthy" competition but I don't feel that I should put up with someone actively trying to damge reputation!

harz99

MissM; it sounds to me as though you are being harassed - something which the local police might be able to stop. Before you pay out for a solicitors letter, maybe speak to the police.

ILW

MissMotivation wrote: »

I know this and I'm happy to have "healthy" competition but I don't feel that I should put up with someone actively trying to damge reputation!

Many businesses will run down their competitors to get an order, unless they put something which is proveably untrue in writing, then this appears to just be the normal rough and tumble of commerce.