One of my clients just called me to question me about letting an employee go?......?

Question

over the weekend an employee of ours was let go due to cursing out the owner (I am part owner) yesterday this ex-employee decides to call one of our clients (he had to call her every morning, that is how he has her contact information) to let her know no longer works with us due to non-payment which is not true as he was paid in full, it is in QuickBooks! That is not why I am asking the question, I wanted to give the back story.......the client calls me wanting to talk about deliveries which I welcomed as any feedback is welcomed, she actually proceeded right away after me saying hello that the driver called her saying he will no longer be picking up from he was fired and we did not pay him and she is concerned about how we treat our employees wanting to make sure we pay them their hourly wages and that we are running an ethical business! I was completely taken aback more so her actually calling me questioning how we handle our business/employees, I am also more taken aback at the fact she entertained such an unprofessional phone call from an employee her being a business owner herself and then to call me and question! I actually find it very unprofessional and unethical that she would 1) entertain such a conversation & 2) calling me to discuss this. I am wondering what is the best way I should proceed with this client as I truly feel she overstepped in our business relationship.

TeamR****10 · Answer

Hi David thank you for your answer, let me touch base on some things you mentioned;

I am very much in contact with my client via email, text and over the phone. 
I never said she should have hung up on him at all, I would never advise anyone to just hang up on another. I said she should not have entertained the conversation as it is not appropriate. Rather she could have maybe said "excuse me while I have to stop this conversation, as it is not my place but I am sorry about you no longer working with *blank* company" something along those lines, just something else than a straight hang up or her entertaining, believing and not stopping that part of his speech. 
I also never stated that the most ethical way my client should be willing to act is ignorant.

Fried Kitten · Answer

NICE TRY

In hearing your side of the story I am convinced 
that your company didn’t act totally appropriately 
with your ex-employee.

You do a wonderful job of citing technicalities that 
put you on the right side of the argument.

What you are incapable of is to hide the other side 
of the argument however.

Here’s what it comes down to.  You shall not lose 
this client unless your ex-employee starts his own 
company to which this client would gladly gravitate 
toward.

Unless you straighten out your ethics you shall 
experience more of this and eventually it shall hurt 
you.  I hope you don’t need to learn the hard way.

I’ve seen this many times – straighten out your act.
You can be profitable without screwing people over 
for scraps.

? · Answer

Remember that this person was in contact with your client every day.  Presumably you personally were not.  So you think that she should automatically believe him over you to the point of not even *asking* about some very serious accusations?  You think she should have just hung up on him and not even had the conversation in the first place?  If you really think the most ethical way for your client to handle such a situation is to be willfully ignorant, then you have some very strange ethics.

my 2 cents · Answer

Tell your client the truth, be gentle.

One of my clients just called me to question me about letting an employee go?......?

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