after an employee quits, Can a General manager talk to other employees and say things that aren't true about former employee to other current employe

My friend recently quit her job, not even after a few hours the general manager was talking to current employee's about the situation and saying untrue things and making up things to make him look better. Is this legal? I assumed that there is an employee/employer confidentiality. Tho she no longer works there it took less than 6 houRs before other employees reached out to the former employee saying things that were not true just to make himself feel better and not look like the "bad guy"