Is it illegal for a Director of Sales within a corporate company to have his wife setup her own business so that he can send her contracts to do training for accounts that are sold by the directors team? What I need to know is this something illegal since it is his wife? Optional Info. our company does outsource training to outside companies but none are owned or related to people that work for the company.
Dear JACUSTOMER - It would not be "illegal" in any criminal law aspect but if the company had a policy against hiring a family member for this type of work then it may be a violation of company policy. Obviously I have no access to the company handbook to see if this practice would violate the company rules so all I can say is there is no law that would make this illegal. It is up to each individual company to regulate this type of nepotism involving family members of company employees. I'm not certain how this was affecting your job or income but whenever you report things against your boss you run the risk of retaliation and making life at work miserable. if the company didn't care that he was doing this then there was no violation of law.
Does it matter that the company is publicly traded? It caught me by surprise when my company had a lawyer on the phone with HR to get the entire details of what he was doing. Thanks for the additional advice in advance.
Companies have the right to make their own rules, public or not. I assume this is not a government operation which is governed by the Federal or State government. Just because it is publicly traded doesn't mean it is not a private business that can set it's own rules. If the company didn't approve this operation then they can take action against the director for violation of company policy but it is not a violation of some state or Federal statute unless it is an actual government operation regulated by specific statutes. A publicly traded company will have a corporate charter and by laws etc. so this may very well be a violation of internal policy. It's just that I have no way of knowing what those policies or rules may be.
Thank you for the advice. It seems like I do not really have any course of action to take since I reported the incident and was basically mistreated by my boss till I quit. We live and learn I guess :) thanks and have a great night.
If you had filed a complaint while you were there or you had been fired you could have sued for wrongful discharge but when you leave on your own accord then it is very difficult to go back and try to prove you were mistreated because of something like this. Thanks for using our service - Dave
Final additional question I promise :) I did report to HR the treatment he was giving me once my HR issue was leaked. They still would not move me. Does this change anything?
Well you can file a suit but if you were not fired it is going to be very difficult since companies aren't required to provide a boss you like or who isn't a problem to work for. This is a common problem in American industry when there is friction between employees and bosses and sometimes quitting and finding new employment is the best course of action.