Optional Information

State/Country relating to Question: Oregon

Already Tried:
The coworker in question, who at the time worked in the same store as me, had asked the manager of my store to fire me so she could work there instead. I have an excellent record and the manager defended me by saying there was no reason to do so. The co-worker also had made personal attacks at a different colleague, and questioned the practices of the manager before going to work at a different store, a move beyond her control from upper management. I addressed these issues in my letter. The manager claimed the firing threat as a joke and her other behavior being a result of bad feeling towards the move to another location. After the discussion with my manager, I apologized through myspace and off the clock.

The threat comes from her nude picture on myspace. I stated, "(a neighboring store owner acquainted with the story) googled you and found you and your naked picture here on myspace. If you plan on making enemies like you have, you should not have that posted for all the world to see." This was my personal reaction as I was embarrassed to see her like that. It was not a threat to do anything. I was letting her know that as a result of her bringing such ill will to the store, she had caused a search for her on the internet and now she was exposed. I am a prude. The picture is of performance art. In my apology, I said, "And I didn't mean to make any judgment about your myspace page. I understand and accept that it is all artistic. It just disturbed me that (the male store owner) had seen it because he didn't see it that way."

All was done off the clock and at my computer. The first message was done while the store was closed. She brought it to upper management and one of them has said it is a "legal issue" now equitable to harassment. He refused to speak to me. The regional manager is expected to discuss it with me at some point.

Is this harassment? Is this a probable cause to fire me?