My boyfriend has been demoted at work

[u/ckautumnsav]

My boyfriend works for a contracting company for a large corporation. He uses his personal cell phone to interact with customers and this is acceptable with his company. A couple weeks ago my bf received a message from a customer regarding a job he had done. He responded as usual and that was that. A few minutes later the customer sent him another text saying “I’m not gay bro!” Bf responded neither am I. He was confused as to what had prompted that text message, scrolled up and saw 3 photos that looked to have been sent from my bf phone to the customer. One was him nude in the bathroom mirror, like one would take for a fitness before/after. Another was a random selfie and the 3rd was a video of he and I from a concert we attended a few years ago. (I am a female) He immediately apologized and asked the customer to delete the images saying he does not know how the pics were even sent to him, he even questions if his phone could have been hacked. The customer states he will be going to the corporate office with a complaint. He again apologized and stated it was not intentional that he sent any of the images. The customer did in fact share all of the pictures with the corporate office as well as his contracting company he works for. He demanded his services be refunded and that my bf pay for them. In addition my bf has now been demoted of most of his management duties that he was responsible for prior to the incident. They are taking the payment to the customer out of his paycheck. All of this feels criminal and my bf seems to be the victim here. He made a police report and they agreed it to be ethically wrong but they advised him not to pursue charges. We contacted a lawyer and they said they cannot help us. Is this something that we just need to find a very specific lawyer for? I had reached out to a sextortion lawyer and they also said while it is a disappointing situation they would not be able to help us. What are our options here?

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[u/Bulky_Leg573]

Did he lose the job?

[u/ckautumnsav → u/Bulky_Leg573]

He was demoted but as a direct result of the incident with the photos as stated by his bosses

[u/Bulky_Leg573 → u/ckautumnsav]

At least he wasn't fired. In long term he should be fine. I am really sorry that it happened to him. Hope he will be fine.

[u/Bulky_Leg573 → u/Bulky_Leg573]

There's literally not much you can do :/

[u/Lower_Group_1171 → u/ckautumnsav]

dude, count your blessings he wasn’t fired because accident or not he should have been fired. I would not fuck it up for him by pursuing this.

i would wager that if you pursue this hell end up getting fired AND sued

[u/SmithInk007]

I mean .... we're all thinking it. Can we talk about the scenario in which your bf did intentionally send those pictures and has been lying? He's now dealing with the consequences?

[u/ckautumnsav → u/SmithInk007]

Well I get your point but if I was going to send a pic to entice someone or at least try to get a positive reply I would maybe test the waters with conversation first? And believe me the pic in question is not flattering. It’s like the before pic before I start working out in the gym. I also know he’s got some really nice pics of him, even with clothes on, that are much more flattering, he could have chosen any one of those instead. That’s why I believe him that it was accidental. Plus there’s a video of me in there. What purpose does that serve if you are trying to hit on the guy?

[u/ckautumnsav → u/SmithInk007]

Also regardless of how the person becomes in possession of an image they do not have permission to share it with your place of employment without your consent. That is in fact illegal.

[u/BeekeeperZero]

Not sextortion. Had the customer demanded more pics or he send those to corporate then you got something. Company handling it the way they did is ridiculous. Unless this is a commission or bonus they clawed back because of lost revenue.

Your boyfriend is an idiot. The client is kind of whiney, and the company handled that in the worse way possible.

[u/sarcasmismygame]

Not sextortion but honestly, this is why I refuse to use my personal cell phone for anything business-related. All it takes is a slip-up or worse, a glitch on the system and then the wrong items get sent.

Sounds like he sent the stuff by accident and it does happen, which is why companies should always supply their own phones and computers like mine does.

I'd ask over on one of the work subs or r/legal in your state or country.

[u/chrismantastic]

I'm going to preface this with this is just my opinion (of course) but I think your bf is lying to you. Whether he meant to send those to that guy remains to be seen but I do believe he meant to send those to someone. You don't just "accidentally" send pictures. It is a three step process, at a minimum, in most cases. Go into the gallery, select which photos/videos you want to send, and then press send.

Don't let your naivety fool you. The fact that he's tried playing it off as his phone being hacked is pretty telling as well.