HR Wisdom From Hollywood Drama

HR Wisdom From Hollywood Drama

What Managers Can Learn from the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni Legal Case

The entertainment world does not often intersect with HR, but late last month it did just that, in a complaint filed by Hollywood star, Blake Lively, against former director and co-star, Justin Baldoni. The two had starred in the August release It Ends with Us, and Lively had strangely been subjected to disparaging stories at the time. Lively’s complaint against Baldoni included many damning text messages – but how exactly did those end up in the hands of Blake Lively’s legal team? The answer is Stephanie Jones, founder and CEO of celebrity PR firm, Jonesworks.

The Backstory: Jonesworks had been providing services to Justin Baldoni since 2017, with a Jonesworks publicist named Jen Abel eventually assuming responsibility for the Baldoni account. Ms. Abel was responsible for this account during the events that gave rise to Lively’s complaint. For some reason, in July 2024, Ms. Abel submitted her resignation – “With LOVE!” – with a commitment to remain until August 23.

The Drama Starts to Brew: That final month was hardly uneventful. On August 15, Business Insider published a hit piece on Jonesworks CEO Stephanie Jones, accusing her of being “combative” and “tyrannical.” As an example, the piece included a story of Ms. Jones calling an employee on FaceTime to check on her after she took a sick day (the horror!). The employee had admittedly taken the sick day to attend a job interview and was forced to hurriedly wipe off the makeup she’d been wearing, but she couldn’t hide her mascara.

Ms. Jones suspected Ms. Abel was involved in the piece and fired her on August 21, two days before her planned final day of work. The (likely) surprise termination meant that Ms. Abel didn’t have time to delete personal data from her company-provided cellphone, and when Ms. Jones examined the phone, she confirmed that Ms. Abel had indeed been in contact with Business Insider. The phone also contained the text messages later used in Lively’s complaint against Baldoni.

The intricacies of how Blake Lively became the recipient of these messages includes some speculation beyond the HR implications of this case, and we are not weighing in on the validity of her claims. Yet, it’s worth noting that Jonesworks is not included as a defendant in her complaint, while Jen Abel’s new PR firm, set up in the wake of her termination (and taking several Jonesworks employees and clients, including Baldoni), is. Perhaps it’s best not to conspire against your employer using a searchable company-owned device.

The HR Lesson: At Sierra HR, we are often asked about how to approach employee resignations. Sometimes, resignations mark the end of a legitimately positive relationship (and not just a superficially positive one, like between Ms. Jones and Ms. Abel). In those cases, immediate action is usually unnecessary. But what about mediocre or toxic employees? Are we bound to honor their resignations?

The answer, of course, is no – we are not obligated to honor an employee’s timeline. In fact, doing so may give toxic employees a chance to further damage morale or steal/destroy company assets or information, leaving us to clean up the mess long after they’re gone. An employer may be worried about the former employee being awarded Unemployment Insurance, and it’s true that terminating employment early would change a “resignation” into an “involuntary termination,” but an Unemployment claim is not a compelling reason to hold onto an otherwise destructive employee.

We should also not provide employees with the opportunity to wipe data from company devices. As our Employee Handbook policy states, “all information placed on computers, telephones or any electronic data system, whether or not personal in nature, is property of the company and may be assessed and reviewed by the company, without notice or reason.” And, as with Stephanie Jones, you may have very good reason to “assess and review” what employees have been doing with their company phone or other device. It is a mistake to allow them to reset company devices on their way out the door.

If you would like support in planning or conducting sensitive terminations, don’t hesitate to call Sierra HR Partners (559-431-8090). These unpleasant events may be unavoidable, but a timely and efficient process can help to avoid costly employee behaviors.

Written by Senior HR Consultant, Dan Larsen, PHR