| By Mary W. Jarrett • Attorney at Law | Please note that information in this article may be time sensitive and specific to the date it was originally published. Please contact the author for updates to this information. |
Company loyalty is a sparse commodity these days. With the up-and-down economy, it seems people switch jobs more often than they do cars. As small business owners, staff turnover and training constantly affects our day-to-day business. We expect our employees to be loyal and hardworking, helping grow our businesses the same way we would.
Loyalty is often a tangible thing. Do our employees purchase our products? Do they network and tout our services to friends and family? We expect (and need) our employees to be our best salespeople. Our success often depends on it. How would it look if I sold (and constantly touted the benefits of) Ford automobiles while driving a Buick?
But you should be aware that terminating an employee for purchasing a competitor's product instead of the employer's violates Florida law.
Not many businesses know that Florida Statute Section 448.03 states (in part) that "Any person or persons, firm, joint stock company, association or corporation . . . having persons in their service as employees, who shall discharge any employee or threaten to discharge any employee in their service for trading or dealing, or for not trading or dealing as a customer or patron with any particular merchant . . . shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree."
Based on this statute, a Florida appellate court recently held that terminating an employee for purchasing a competitor's product violates a consumer protection law and gives the terminated employee the right to sue for unfair and deceptive trade practices. In this case (Smith v. 2001 South Dixie Highway, Inc.), the employee, whose employer sold cars, purchased a car from a competitor's car lot and her employer fired her for doing so.
Business owners should take note: you can't take adverse employment action against employees who, while acting as typical consumers, do business with a competitor. That's the beauty of living in a free society. Like all Americans, employees are free to buy from and sell to whomever they please.
Mary
W. Jarrett is an attorney with Coffman, Coleman,
Andrews and Grogan, P.A. and can be reached at
(904) 389-5161 or via Email at mjarrett@ccaglaborlaw.com.
