AIBU to fire an Employee for having an affair with my husband

[Hanch99]

Ok, not me. But my mom has just found out that her husband (my step-dad of 27 years) has been having an affair with an employee. They jointly own a company. My step-dad has been having an affair with one of the company managers. Now my mom in haste/pain/anger has fired her.

Can she do this? I don't want her to get into trouble or for there to be any legal action against the company but i also understand that she can't face seeing her, whilst trying to run a service base.

It's very messy and sad.

Legally, probably a no-no

It depends. What was the workplace relationship between them? Did they declareto hr? Did the affair impact work in any way? How long has the employee been employed?

There may be something that could be done along the lines of the working relationship having totally broken down (an employment lawyer would be needed), however, the OW could then allege sexual harassment.

A payout and NDA would have been best...and should probably be pursued now with the assistance of an employment lawyer.

Your mother should also see a family solicitor, but that's another matter.

Pretty sure that would be an unfair dismissal, and since the husband is that woman's boss (in a position of power) they are also at risk of sexual harassment claims.
Your mum needs a valid reason to fire her and needs to follow disciplinary procedures. If the woman has been there less than 2 years then she can be fired for any reason, but if she's been there longer than 2 years then she would need to do something that amounted to gross misconduct to be fired instantly. Sleeping with a colleague isn't gross misconduct.

Unlikely this is legal, I would recommend your mother speaks to an employment lawyer ASAP before she does anything else

In the US there are some states that you don't need to provide a reason to fire someone. I'm assuming you are there because you used "Mom".

Oh! I didn't pick up on the Americanism. In America, it's called being an at will employee and you can be let go anytime for any reason.

Post in employment issues, OP. You won’t get sane advice here.

The dismissal could be perfectly fair as a breach of trust and confidence. Impossible to know from the info given.

Mom is American. Are you in the England or Wales? Otherwise answers pertaining to employment law may not be relevant.

Mom is commonly used in lots of parts of the UK.

Birmingham area uses Mom.

Yes is this uk?

You can dismiss someone fairly for "some other substantial reason" when it's not capability, disciplinary etc

Your mum might be able to rely on that if the individual wanted to pursue a claim. She should still pay notice or would be breaching contract.

I don't blame her by the way but if the person has over 2 years service it's definitely more risky

Where are they based, and did the employee work for the business for more than 2 years [if in England]?

ChilledBee I’m in the USA and ‘at will’ does not mean you can just fire someone ‘at will’ nice though that sounds for employers, the reality is very rarely is there NOT a reason and if an employee could prove at a labor board there actually was a reason as in this case, they’d be looking at a payout. Blimey, our company attorney would have kittens over a scenario like this, it’s a sexual harassment suit by anyone’s standards. OP your mom could genuinely be in a lot of trouble here, she’d better lawyer up.

In the UK. Use Mom. Thanks for the advice so far.

How long did the employee work there OP?

The ow may not challenge it - she may not want it all in the public eye herself.

Your mum should get legal advice tho.

Under two years, and employee can be dismissed for an "unfair reason" legally. The employer still needs to pay contractual notice. Over two years it's much harder to legally dismiss someone and your mum could be in trouble.

In her shoes, if she has more than two years employment (and possibly even if not), I'd already have my lawyer lined up and ready to go. The affair in no way impacted on her performance or capability in doing the job - otherwise that would have been the reason she was dismissed. It takes TWO people to have an affair, and since the male in this scenario is the ultimate boss, true or not, I would be claiming coercion and harassment. And discrimination if I could (which means I wouldn't need 2 years employment).

And frankly, why can't she stand seeing the woman but her husband is ok - just because he's the joint owner of the company. He is at least equally at fault. Possibly more so.

This was very ill-advised.

In the U.K. it is not legal but it would require the sacked employee to complain to cause issues. Pay any outstanding pay, holidays plus 1 week for every year worked up to 12 weeks plus whatever notice period the have to be fair to them

I hope she signed a contract that states no fornication between employees.
Also I would tell all the staff what they got up to.
Pair of shitheads.

Pretty safe I think based on the details provided. Fidelity is an implied term of the contract, and 'some other substantial reason' covers otherwise.

I think your mom is in serious technical difficulty here if the employee decided to take this further...

Looks like she's taking it out on the wrong person.

She doesn't want to see any of them but he owns half the company and he has moved out probably in with her. So would be unfair of her to claim sexual harassment etc.

There is proof that things happened in work time as-well.