He was at a customers house, yelling at me over the phone, I gathered my things and walked out. When I did not receive my final check from him (within Ohio law time) and contacted corporate for assistance, they wanted to know why I quit. Explained that I was the sixth person in six months to quit and he has abusive bullying, poor unsafe equipment and poor management techniques. I explained that I only wanted my last check and be done with the whole fiasco. I later received a winded email from him accusing me of lies, level of negative ignorance, and undermining my employers. (all lies and exaggerations) He has threatened me that he will sue for "duty of loyalty" and of Non-compete and confidentiality" if I continue with my current behavior. I just want my last check.
As a general rule, Ohio employees are considered at-will and either party can end the employee-employer relationship for virtually any reason (certain discriminatory practices excluded) with or without notice. Because you have mentioned non-compete and confidentiality, it appears that you may have a contract with your employer which would require examination before answering whether or not your employer has basis for a lawsuit.
Lori Ann StroblEmployment / Labor AttorneyDayton, OH ·
It appears that your supervisor is under pressure from corporate and is threatening to sue you. You may want to contact corporate regarding his threats. Like my colleague stated, if there is a contract, it would need to be reviewed in order to adequately advise you. However, nothing in your post indicates that you are competing or breaching confidentiality; just trying to get your last pay check.
Ohio law does allow employers to bring claims for breach of duty of loyalty against employees, but not just because the employee quits or resigns. Most employees are considered employees at will, which means that the employee is free to quit at any time.
In order to sue you for breach of duty of loyalty, the employer would have to show that you did something improper and disloyal to the employer while you were still employed by the employer. Usually, that means that you took business opportunities for yourself or someone else that should have gone to your employer, or worked for yourself or someone else while on your employer's time, or something else harmful to your employer like that. But if you are an employee at will, you are allowed to quit. Although your employer might not like it, he can't sue you for it.
Now you do mention non-compete and confidentiality. If you have a specific non-compete agreement, it is possible that it could be enforced against you if it if valid and you are violating it. And employees are never allowed to take their employers' confidential trade secrets and information with them when they quit, and use them for their own or someone else's benefit.
If you have a non-compete agreement, or if you are using information like your former employer's customer lists or pricing information in your new employment, you may want to consult an employment attorney to find out what your rights and obligations are, and how real your former employer's threats to sue you are.
And finally, it is illegal under both Ohio and federal law for employers to fail to pay their employees' earnings, although the penalties for failing to do so are not as severe as they should be. If your former employer continues to withhold your pay, you may want to contact an employment attorney about that, too.
Sara Hutchins JodkaEmployment / Labor AttorneyColumbus, OH ·
In regards to your pay issue specifically, unless there is a contract dictating otherwise or it is industry standard, an employer must pay an employer bi-monthly basis and failure to pay within the timeframe prescribed in Ohio Revised Code 4413.15 - Ohio's Prompt Pay Act, which allows for penalties if an employer failed to pay. You may want to check it out.
