I'll try to explain a little, it's awfully convoluted.. I'm working for a start-up in tech, we'll say company B. He took some of the people from his last start-up that tanked, Company A, when he started Company B. Coincidentally while at Company A we worked for another one of his investments(made a website), Company S.

Now last week he finds out that an old employee from the original start-up(Comp A) has been helping his business partner from Company S work on a totally unrelated project. The business partner at company S, this is his dream project, and it's unclear if my boss is even invested in the dream project. The ex-employee did not ask for permission to work with the business partner, my boss likened this to "a guy asking his bro's permission to date his ex". btw the dream project is not competing with the current/last business.

So when asking about this dream project I got screamed at with how terrible this ex-employee was, and how what he was doing was 1) illegal 2) would get him fired at "any business across the country". So, is my boss right or is he full of it, is it illegal for an employee to talk to a business partner without permission? Or is it immoral/bad in any way?
user
Boss of company B has old employee from previous company working on project with business partner at business partner company S. Boss gets yelled at for it, is it legal or moral for employees to talk to business partners without permission?
assistant
I'll try to explain a little, it's awfully convoluted.. I'm working for a start-up in tech, we'll say company B. He took some of the people from his last start-up that tanked, Company A, when he started Company B. Coincidentally while at Company A we worked for another one of his investments(made a website), Company S.

Now last week he finds out that an old employee from the original start-up(Comp A) has been helping his business partner from Company S work on a totally unrelated project. The business partner at company S, this is his dream project, and it's unclear if my boss is even invested in the dream project. The ex-employee did not ask for permission to work with the business partner, my boss likened this to "a guy asking his bro's permission to date his ex". btw the dream project is not competing with the current/last business.

So when asking about this dream project I got screamed at with how terrible this ex-employee was, and how what he was doing was 1) illegal 2) would get him fired at "any business across the country". So, is my boss right or is he full of it, is it illegal for an employee to talk to a business partner without permission? Or is it immoral/bad in any way?
user
Boss wants to work with a business partner, ex-employee is working on a business partner's dream project without permission. Boss screams at me.
assistant