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Questions about Workplace Slander Laws

Slander in the workplace can lead to a lot of unpleasantness and an employee’s reputation being irreparably damaged. If you have ever faced slander in your work environment and not known what to do about it, you are bound to have questions about fairness, your rights and the provisions of the law to protect you in such situations.

Listed below are a few slander-related questions answered frequently by Experts.

How do I go about suing a company for slander?

If you would like to sue someone for slander, you need to first prove that a verbal statement was made to a third party. Then, that the statement was false. Thirdly, that the person making the statement knew or should have known it was false. And finally, that the statement adversely affected the reputation of the person it was about. If you can prove all of this, then you can sue for slander. However, honest personal opinion cannot be considered slander.

I work in New Jersey and a few co-workers are spreading rumours about me being gay. I spoke to the management about it, but want to know if this classifies as slander and if I can legally do something about it?

In New Jersey, the law against discrimination does not allow for harassment or discrimination at the workplace based on an employee’s sexual orientation. From what you have described, your colleagues seem to be harassing you based on the perception that you are a homosexual. If your management has not taken steps to address this issue, you could file a complaint against them with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. More information is available at: http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcr/filing.html.

There is also a possibility that you could have a defamation claim against your coworkers. But harm done to your reputation is usually difficult to prove, and you might find it hard to hire a lawyer who would be ready to take on a case like yours on a contingency fee basis.

I work as a registered nurse for an agency in Florida that supplies nurses to a hospital. Recently, two doctors allegedly made several complaints about me to the Director of Nursing. They said that my appearance was unkempt, I rendered poor quality care, I lacked professionalism, and that I behaved poorly towards them. One of the doctors in question is someone I have never met or even conversed with. The other denied making a complaint. I have been working at this hospital for a year with a clean record. And now I have been forbidden to work here anymore. What legal action can I take?

In this case, since it doesn’t look like one doctor could have filed a complaint and the other one denies having done so, you might have a claim for defamation against the Director of Nursing. If you do this, the truth of what actually happened might come out.

Unfortunately, the state you are in is an employment “at will” state, which essentially means that you can be terminated for almost any reason. A few exceptions would include discrimination based on factors like age, race, gender, disability, religion, national origin, or filing a workers’ compensation claim. Therefore, it is most unlikely that you could file for wrongful termination unless there was an employment contract in place.

You could consult with a local employment lawyer to view your case properly and help you file a defamation suit at the minimum.

In the previous company that I worked for, I had to face slander and defamation. Now all that history has caused big problems in my new company. Can I go back and file charges against my previous employer? Is there a time limit for the filing?

You can almost certainly file a lawsuit if defamatory comments were made against you. This would involve proving that false statements were made against you that caused injury. You have a one-year time frame to file suit.

Proving slander in the workplace requires specific proof points in order to legally establish and win a case. Getting Expert insights into your particular situation is one of the ways to determine the best course of action available to you.

Recent Slander Questions

My 16 year old daughter worked for a local water ice chain.

My 16 year old daughter worked for a local water ice chain. Today she was called in to work and forced to sign a typed statement that said she was voluntarily resigning from her job. The 3 listed reasons were that 1) she ate product without paying for it, 2) she rested her feet on a food prep table, and 3) she took pretzels without paying for them. She adamantly denied #1 and 3. They agreed that in fact she did not do those things, but they forced her to sign anyway. My husband spoke with the store owner who agreed that my daughter did not steal or otherwise take anything without paying, however, he would not hand over her signed statement.

I plan on sending a letter to the head of the corporation, but I'd like to use some appropriate terms to convey my distress. Are 'slander' and 'defamation of character' reasonable? And is there anything legally I should do to protect my daughter's reputation?
Hello, I have a serious situation on my hands, but need

Hello,

I have a serious situation on my hands, but need quick advice as to whether or not to appear before a former employers attorney--without my own--Monday morning.

I have been a 1099 contractor (sales and marketing) to a drug development lab (pharmaceutical companies outsource much of their development work to outside labs) for 12 years, with a one year break to work at another lab. I returned two years ago. I tried to cut-and-paste my 4 page contract below, but there's not enough room. You may want to read it, but here's what happened.

We (the company and myself) had worked to get a contract to develop a drug for a university researcher who is working under a large (over $20M) grant from both state and federal agencies. We did everything we had to and then some to get it (we not only quoted, but consulted and wrote study protocols, neither of which generally happen unless under contract). The researcher (grantee) had a consultant, someone known to us as he had placed other clients studies with our lab in the past. We thought we had a good relationship with him and that he would recommend us to the grantee.

Fast forward: apparently the academic decided to put the work out to bid, though we were actively negotiating a contract. I tried to save this account, but couldn't.

Last Wednesday, my boss (not really a boss, as I'm a contractor, but I'll call her my boss) emailed and asked me what % kickback--yes, kickback--we'd have to pay the grantees consultant in order to win the bid. Its not unusual for these contractors to be paid a consulting fee by the pharmaceutical company, then ask every vendor for whatever % in order to use said vendors services. I need to mention, at this point, that our lab was conducting a study for another client of this consultant and the study failed (we may have killed some test rats--an unfortunate occurrence but it happens). The consultant already didn't like my boss, but this study failure (we sell research, a "study" and our work product is a research report). He was angry and, though I was not the sales manager for this particular account, called me to complain and to somehow reach my boss. He did mention that, given, our labs performance, he couldn't recommend us for the big contract in questions, the one that's grant funded.

So, back to my boss contacting me about this consultant last Wednesday. Apparently, she had sic'ed her lawyer on the grantee--with some success: they were negotiating, unknown to me, to finalize a contract when apparently the consultant intervened and the negotiations blow up last Wednesday, hence my boss asking me what % it would take to get the consultant to back down and recommend us.

I wrote back to her that the consultant, thanks to killing his other clients rats meant that he was through with us. My boss wrote back asking, "So how come you know so much about this?". The answer is that he was my interlocutor for the grant-funded study plus he called to complain about the dead rats belonging to his other client--not my account. My company email was immediately cut off and I got this via my Gmail account:

"Taylor (that's me), our relationship is over. You are terminated. Your computer has been turned off and you are no longer a sales manager for XXX. Jack (business manager) will work with you in this regard."

It didn't end there.

Because my boss was furious that she lost the grant funded study ($3M worth of rat and dog studies), and later that day wrote this:

"You are involved with consultant (I'm redacting here) in some sort of unseemly way that is harming (the company I worked for and me. consultants behavior at the (dead rat company follow-up) meeting, plus his behavior with (the scientist who directed the study--that's how it works) while we were at (a trade show) was shocking and disturbing and he was there to trash our relationship with (dead rat company) and then immediately to trash our delicately reestablished relationship with (grantee). (Consultant)called me a liar, a crook and incompetent in front of (dead rat study company) and then said worse things to (our VP) and made an obscene gesture (our VP) in front of the client. He lied to (dead rat study company) and told them he did not know us and had never been to our place."

I wrote back denying any connection to or knowledge of these ruined negotiations between my employer and the grantee--my boss knows I didn't know about it. She then wrote:

"There is a financial collusion between you and (consultant)"

Here's my foremost problem: my boss then wrote and asked if I would speak with her attorney and be debriefed about all my contacts with the consultant! Ever hear the word "chutzpa"? Her lawyer called and said the we should meet this Monday to discuss the terms of my reengagement with my boss. I believe they just want information.I have no lawyer and no idea what to do. Do I go into the meeting Monday?
hi my names devon i work at tmobile in Texas, i have abit of

hi my names devon i work at tmobile in Texas, i have abit of an issue right now. my boss and a co worker are participating in illegal activity's that i dont agree with and ever since they have found out i dont wanna do it they have been doing everything in there power to get me fired. at this point its my words vs my boss and well you know how that turns out. but i have a voice recording with my boss and the co worker taking about doing these activity's and they dont know that. Now the illegal activity there doing is they are stealing peoples naked pictures off there cell phones when they drop them off to us to be fixed. now that is a huge no no in the cell phone industry, that viololates peoples privacy! i dont know what to do though becaues if i go to my higher up bosses i dont want them to fire me for with holding information and i dont want my boss and co worker to retaliate against me, slander me or go knows what else. what should i do? i dunno if going to the police will help becaues i dont have specific names of the people they stole pictures from i just have them admitting to doing it all the time on a voice recording?