Is it illegal for a former employer to give a customer your personal phone number?
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Is it illegal for a former employer to give a customer your personal phone number?
My former employer fired me under shady circumstances. A bad review was left on yelp using my name about a mistake that was made on a bill. I was fired as a result and my employer claimed it was the customer who had left the review. Well, that customer went to my former boss and had asked for my personal phone number, as my boss had claimed I made threats to kill the customer which I hadnt and my former boss had given her my personal telephone number. After talking to the customer I found out that the customer had not left that review, and we both determined it wasn’t extremely likely the boss had actually left that review to justify firing me. I am now blacklisted from my industry as a result of that review, and while I suspect my boss left that review to destroy me, I cannot prove it. What I can prove, is that my former boss had given out my personal information to a customer. This boss has ruined my life, and i would really like to know if giving my private number to a customer is any grounds for me to take legal action.
Asked on May 6, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Washington
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
No, this is not legal unless you have an employment contract, union agreement, job application, etc. that states otherwise. The fact is that most employee information is not ncessarily deemed confidential. As a general rule, a company can set the condtitions of the workplace much as it sees fit (absent some form of legally actionable discrimination). Accordingly, you have no claim here regarding your former employers having divulged your personal phnoe number.
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