I live in rural eastern NC, work for a subsidiary of large company, jobs are few here for experienced tradesperson, both my husband and I work for the same company, in totally different departments. My supervisor, "heard from the grapevine" that the competitor called me to offer me a job, which I have not accepted yet.

My supervisor called me in and I was complimented on my job here and said that he would do what he could to keep me, then he told me not to take this as a threat, but if I go to work for the competitor, that my husband might lose his job!

I need advise as how to handle this, my family cannot afford for one of us to be out of work!

Should I report my supervisor to HR about what I took as a threat!! ( that if I leave to work for a competitor, that my husband would lose his job),

Caught between a rock and a hard spot here in North Carolina!
Please Advise!

It may be a threat, but it's not an illegal threat. It might even have been a simple statement of fact. It is not illegal for a company to have a policy of not hiring someone whose spouse works for the competition. We had a post here recently from someone who wasn't hired by Pepsi when they found out her husband worked for Coca Cola (or vice versa).

Thanks for the reply, I do understand that I'm an at-will employee, and that I could be fired for most any reason, and I find it sad that someone else could be fired by another person's action. (if there isn't a company policy on spousal employment) I will look into the company policy, I'm new at working for a large corporation, but so willing to learn the correct professional way to handle situations as this.

So do I report "threats" to HR as maybe bad management? (I did take it as a threat)

This is not a threat and it is not bad management. It can create a serious conflict of interest if two spouses are employed at competing companies. The supervisor was not threatening you; he was trying to be fair in letting you know what the consequences would be. If he had not done so and your husband had later lost his job, you'd be complaining that no one had warned you this might happen.

You are free to report it to HR, but I would anticipate that all HR will do is confirm whether or not what the supervisor said was true. I think it highly unlikely that any action will be taken against the supervisor, who did nothing wrong.

Again, I think the supervisor was probably stating a fact and/or giving you a heads-up of what could happen. That's a warning, not a threat. While the thought of either of you losing your job is certainly threatening to your family budget, it's not any form of illegal threat.