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Many people here in California and elsewhere become disenchanted with their current employers and take a position with another. That is what one police officer did, and within days of beginning his new job, he was fired. He filed a wrongful termination suit against the department he left because he claimed they made disparaging remarks about him to his new department.
At his former department, pay cuts were being made, equipment officers needed was not purchased or maintained and union benefits were being shifted. That is when he accepted a lateral position with the other department. His former employer attempted to get him to stay, but he refused.
That is when he said a supervisor with the Ventura Police Department warned him that he would be sorry he left. He was also told that it would be impossible for him to work in Ventura County again. The day after he began his job with the Oxnard Police Department, he was terminated. Officials there said they received information from the VPD that was material to his termination. He believes that the VPD did nothing with information regarding an incident that took place the day before he left until he began his job with the OPD on purpose, and it cost him his position.
The case was scheduled for trial in Dec. 2016, but the parties settled the wrongful termination claim instead. In the absence of any prior agreements, California workers retain the right to leave their jobs and take new ones. Former employers should not interfere with an individual’s right to work elsewhere, but if they do, legal help is available.
Source: vcstar.com, “Police wrongful-termination suit settled“, Marjorie Hernandez, Dec. 30, 2016