How Should We Handle an Ex-Employee Spreading False Information and Defaming Us Online?

Hi all,

I have come across a case where one of our dissatisfied employees resigned and joined another organization some time back. During a reference check call, we discovered false information and provided the correct information as per the employee file.

Currently, he is not only defaming the organization but also making derogatory statements about the HR person acting on behalf of the organization, not as an individual entity.

Let me clarify the reasons for the same:

1. He had performance issues, and we gave him around six months to improve, which he failed to do (all communications are documented with his signatures).

2. He had attitude issues with all managers within our company, and all managers refused to work with him.

3. He provided false information to his new company, but during a third-party reference check, we provided the correct information from his file.

4. His salary was not reduced arbitrarily; it was due to his inability to work at the expected level. We do not reduce salaries without reason, especially since we have 105 other employees.

5. He accepted and consented to his new salary structure via email, even though he refused to sign the letter. He received his full and final settlement based on the reduced salary, signed all documents, and had his new designation clearly indicated.

6. His higher salary in March was due to the annual LTA disbursement, clearly stated in his salary slip.

Due to providing false information to his new employer, I believe he has been terminated from that organization as well. Consequently, he is spreading false information on various blog sites and harassing me.

I seek your advice on this matter. What should we do in such cases?

He is not open to discussion on a one-to-one basis and appears to have some psychological issues.

Please help me in this situation. He is not only defaming us but also disclosing our logo and client information on these websites.

Regards,
Satish

Hi,

With respect to the case cited herein, we are facing a similar situation in one of our branch offices. We had to fire one of the employees on performance grounds. The time period given was 6 months with repeated reminders. However, due to non-improvement, the company had to issue a letter to them.

The company, as routine, is conducting quarterly performance analyses after appraisals have been done. Employees who have failed to exhibit any change after the considerable time frame given are being asked to leave, with notice pay being given. For some employees, there has been no salary increase, nor have performance-linked incentives, project-linked incentives, or bonuses been paid. Sufficient time has been provided for them to perform in their roles, but in vain, as they are busy involved in creating a political environment.

These individuals have teamed up and are attempting to undermine the morale of other employees by spreading rumors about senior management, backend staff, and our HR department. They have also posted some blogs, and a few incidents have occurred. We are aware of the employees involved in these incidents and intend to take strict action, as they are misleading other employees and playing with their beliefs.

Respected seniors, can you suggest how we can prevent such blogs and rumors from spreading in our branch office? For us, all employees are equal, but we cannot afford liabilities. These employees must earn and justify the salary that the company pays them.

Hi Bobby,

I totally agree with you. I think we should not hire these kinds of people if we find any negative information during their background verification. These individuals tend to spread rumors on websites, and many people are unaware of the actual situation, leading them to provide misguided information (not intentionally, but based on the facts), which could potentially lead someone to draw the wrong conclusion.

In HR, we encounter such situations almost every other day. Is there any remedy that someone can suggest?

Regards

Hi Sparky,

We do not have a separate legal department, but we are consulting with one lawyer in this regard. Is there any other way to deal with such kind of people?

Regards,
Satish

Dear Ravi,

I don't care about what he is doing outside, but there should be some ways to handle these problems. I am more interested in knowing what other companies do in this kind of situation.

I know once I am in trouble, nobody is going to help me except myself. But because of that, I cannot deny my own responsibilities as an HR person. Do you think in case you need to fire/terminate somebody, you will say no to your organization? No, because being in HR, that is one of your functions. So let him write what he is writing, but at least I am asking you, being HR personalities, what should be the right approach to handle these situations and what other companies do in these situations.

Regards

Dear Mr. Sharma,

I believe this tendency is increasing day by day because of recruitment made in a hurry. If you had conducted pre-employment checks before issuing appointment orders, this could have been easily avoided.

Secondly, you should establish a regular and frequent monitoring system, for example, every month until the probationary period is completed. Any necessary corrective actions should be taken promptly through counseling.

Thirdly, you should encourage employee referrals when making appointments.

Fourthly, you should utilize your intelligence to gather regular information about employees of this nature (sometimes supervisors harass individuals, and such activities are a result of this) and strive to address their grievances.

Fifthly, whether you like it or not, you should ensure job rotation every two years and identify employees' interests to place them in roles they are interested in.

I strongly believe that nobody should be a non-performer, and it is our duty to fine-tune each employee by addressing their grievances and interests.

Best wishes about the performance

On seeing the lines of Mr. Ramnag66, it gives a clear picture of how to deal with the situation. I fully agree with the dear member. - KB

Dear Mr. Ramnag66,

We are doing all that you have suggested in the organization. This person is not someone who was hired recently; he has been working with us for more than 3 years. In the first two years, he was working fine but as a solo performer. Once we inducted him into the team, the problems started arising because he is not manageable with team performance. Another issue with him is his financial obligations, which he has created by taking loans. We have helped him in the past by providing some financial assistance (due to an old employee).

You may or may not agree with me, but in the IT industry, nobody can be a solo performer. Every time, you have to work in an agile fashion with different project managers and teams. This person has used vulgar language even with his team members, which we have intervened in and tried to resolve, but he has not shown improvement. Even in support functions, he has used very unprofessional language.

How many companies are there in this world that do not hire and fire their employees?

Regards,

Dear Mr. Sharma,

You have accepted that he was okay for the first two years. So, there are some deep problems (maybe personal) within him and not his ability. Now that he has left the organization, we need not bother in this angle.

To solve this problem, please ensure that you do not respond to him at any cost, which will vanish in the course of time, as he is acting out of frustration, and once he gets a good job, the dust will settle. Next, please don't give any negative or positive reports for referrals (exclusively for this case only) and keep mum.

Mr. Sathish,

It is very good to understand that your thinking is good and it supports your organizational growth.

These are the cases that normally come in our career quite frequently.

As a beginner, you have to deal with this subject in two different ways:

ONE - If your organization is interested in taking up this legally, you have to do that. Before that, you collect all documentary and other evidence to establish that he defamed the company's image. A company can take this stand if his actions are really damaging, and the organization wants to spend money in order not to set a bad precedent in the organization.

TWO - Whatever the problem that you assess in him is an attitude problem. This will never go away from him so easily. Feedback from the previous employers would have given you a picture about him if the recruitment process was done in a better way. So, please make the "Previous Employer's reference check" a compulsory process.

As an HR person, our duty is to recruit human assets. Please do not compromise for anything as far as the recruitment is concerned. An HR person should be able to assess a candidate just by seeing him or within five minutes after meeting him. If you grow to that level, you will never have any problem in your career.

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I have corrected the spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in the user's text while maintaining the original meaning and tone. I have also ensured proper paragraph formatting with single line breaks between paragraphs.

Hi Satish,

As F&F is completed from your end and he has accepted it, the best course of action is to cease such nonsense and proceed with legal actions. No employee or ex-employee should misuse or use the company logo, name, articles, website/URL, etc., without permission from the authority.

I would recommend that you review the appointment letter of your organization, where all these clauses are outlined. If these clauses are not included in the appointment letter, consider adding them to prevent such issues in the future.

Dear Sharmaji,

One thing I noticed is that everyone in your organization seems to be unhappy. If so, why would someone be found suitable for selection in another company? It must be because they have something special.

Now, let's talk about attitude. I have come across many employees with attitude problems who, despite that, have shown great potential and have done things differently, proving to be geniuses for my company within a couple of years. These individuals are innovative and do not thrive in a stereotypical culture where their boss is mediocre or an average person merely trying to secure their own job. This is where conflicts arise. In my experience, I have seen these same individuals surpass their bosses and eventually become the boss of their own boss.

We recognized these qualities in them because they were highly spirited, innovative, quick in understanding market trends, and adept at influencing Vice Presidents to alter their strategies. It was not uncommon for Vice Presidents to seek advice from these employees in person regarding personal situations or performance evaluations.

It is essential to understand why people become frustrated and start tarnishing the company's reputation; often, it is due to an environment that fails to support them. As an HR professional, I would advise examining the shortcomings in your work environment because not everyone who works is genuinely happy; some are merely waiting for their monthly salaries, counting down the days. However, exceptional individuals like these must be recognized as distinct from the average workforce.

I have a sincere piece of advice for you, Mr. Sharma – do not ruin the job prospects of even your adversaries in life. Such an attitude is detrimental; if you cannot do good for others, it is better to remain silent. Never jeopardize someone's chances of employment in any company.

Regards,

Partho

Dear All,

The suggestions are vivid, but we as HR professionals need to address these issues. This employee has been in touch with others and has started creating a nuisance for us. They have created more blogs and are posting negatively about a few of our staff, trying to malign their names. Among them is a lady. We know this is the person creating these things but feel helpless and unable to take any action.

Can anyone suggest a way to stop these blogs? They are causing problems in the personal lives of some employees, who are struggling to handle their issues with their spouses.

Dear Partho,

First of all, I am not responsible for spoiling his career or finding new job opportunities; he himself is spoiling his career by putting blogs on various websites.

Being an HR person, if somebody's reference check will come to you, what will you do? Will you provide the correct information available in the personal file, or will you accept the wrong information provided by him to his present employer? Then in that situation, the first question is, why should we do the reference check if we are not able to provide the right feedback? I have only done that.

In writing, I cannot give any false information to any of my colleagues in the industry so that at a later stage when he moves to another organization, he faces the same problem as he is facing here. In a way, I am trying to help him and advise him not to give false information in the future to any of his prospective employers.

I am not acting based on my attitude, but trying to seek advice on what other companies do in this situation. In the same case in your organization, would you let this person give false information and verify it, or would you suggest him not to do so, because that may cause trouble for him in the future as well? Nowadays, every company conducts employee background verification wherever you go.

Regards,

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Reference checks should address the following:

1. Criminal Offense
2. Frauds
3. Abusive language with superiors
4. Misbehavior
5. Integrity with the Company

Beyond the above-mentioned dark sides or issues, nothing is serious enough to affect prospective employers' interest.

There are occasions when employees are sacked or terminated for personal opinions formed by some Managers or a group of employees. For example, love affairs, luring with female staff, coming late, arguing with the boss on official matters, showing an adamant approach, etc. These reasons for the termination of an employee should not be mentioned as negative remarks when providing a reference to prospective employers. These behaviors are not permanent traits, and people can change with time and maturity.

It is advised not to harm an employee's job prospects in a reference due to envy or personal biases towards the fact that they secured a better organization with a better pay package.

I always advise my management not to rely on these reference checks beyond one point because most Indians tend to speak negatively about their ex-employees and may reflect personal grudges in their remarks. This is a common weakness among many people.

People often do not wish for others to prosper. This is the harsh reality, and it is a test of your HR approach on how you treat your ex-employees and whether you respect them or not.

Therefore, do not include negative remarks in a reference check; this would be a misuse of the reference check's objective. As HR professionals, it is our duty to decide what is worth replying to among the reference check list questions.

We are not obligated to respond to every question regarding the following:

Performance: No performance appraisal system is entirely justifiable, and even the rating system in performance appraisal is arbitrary. Therefore, employees should not be blamed for low ratings by their future employer.

Employee Salary: This is confidential information that can be verified through tax returns, and we are not required to follow a questionnaire from a future employer.

Misconduct/Integrity with the Company: Such information requires legal documentation to prove that proper legal procedures, like domestic inquiries, were followed before terminating an employee. If an employee manages to obtain your reference check report and challenges its validity in court, you could face trouble without strong evidence on record to defend your comments.

Please remember these points.

Regards,

Abraham

Mr. Sharma,

There are two ways to look at it:

1. Ignore the errant employee altogether. Use the age-old philosophy - "Hathi chlta hai aur kuttey bhoktey hai." He will cool down considerably if he sees no reaction from you or the company. But my suggestion is to record what he says or does against the organization. (By the way, do you have substantial evidence that he is the only one who is abusing you/ your company? Have you tried to verify the source of information? My suggestion - be thorough and precise.)

OR

2. Take a legal course: Usage of company-related information or material by the employee for personal purposes is against the law. You can lodge a defamation case against him on behalf of the company right away. And trust me, our laws are pretty stringent about this. Please consult a good lawyer about this issue and take things forward from there. A simple show-cause notice will be enough, I suppose, for your psycho. Even if he counter-reacts, you can file a legal suit which he will lose (based on the information provided by you - do consult a lawyer).

Dear Madam,

You cannot do anything in this case. :-P Employees enjoy the liberty to write on any blog to post their views. :icon6: If you advise everyone who blogs on various sites to file defamation cases against such internet blogging posts, then the Indian Judicial System will face a 1000-year delay in delivering justice. :-D This is because even today, the average trial period in India to dispose of one case takes at least 25 years. :idea:

Partho