How do you handle a reputation crisis caused by a former employee?

Former-employee crises (public posts, lawsuits, regulatory complaints) follow a recognizable pattern and require a coordinated playbook. Legal handles the question of what the former employee has actually said, whether it crosses defamation or breach-of-confidentiality lines, and what platform-policy claims may apply. Comms handles the public response, which is usually measured and factual rather than confrontational because confrontation amplifies reach. We handle the digital layer: monitoring across the platforms the former employee is using, daily AIQ tracking of any narrative formation, authoritative content on owned properties that contextualizes the company’s record without becoming the story itself, and source-level work where the claims contain factual errors that warrant correction through editorial channels. The pattern we see most often is that the noise diminishes over months as the authoritative record builds.