Is it legal for a former employer to send appointment reminder to clients, for appointments with me, when I’m no longer at the company

Question

I was terminated from a Therapist position for being a whistleblower. My former clients are still getting their appointment reminders and the reminders are scheduled with another therapist, but saying that the appointment is still with me as though I am still employed there. There is no mention of another therapist in these reminders. Only me.

Answer 1

There are inevitably screw ups when an automated system doesn't catch up with reality. There is no reason to think it is intentionally deceptive. It isn't illegal, it is just a reflection of the imperfection of bureaucratic life in the digital age.

If the error was continued intentionally with an intent to influence patients, that might be illegal, but there is no indication that this is what is happening, and there would be no reason for the former employer to do so.

Answer 2

What is the effect on you and on the patients? If someone appears at their offices for their appointment with you, you should never know about that so you are not damaged. As long as the company tells the customer that they messed up and you don’t work for them anymore.

If their receptionist apologised to the patient, saying that you are unreliable and often miss appointments, that could be libel. If they called you on your home phone number to see where you are, you told them that you are not working there anymore, and that happened once that would be minimal damage that you would probably ignore.

The patient might have a much better case, depending on what happens next.

Answer 3

It could be consumer fraud or ethical breaches on the patients and it could be defamation of you of it leads to probable loss of income or reputational harm on you.

But it would be hard to prove that it was intentional harm on either your ex-patients or yourself unless it's prolonged, or done after being notified. Prosecutors or the court would take into account simple explanations like "it was automated and a mistake". It's not like the one that fired you are calling the clients up and knowingly lying to them over the phone or something. It's an automatically generated form letter.