• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Defamation?

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Agundel

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? I work in Virginia but the defamation occurred while at a client site in California.

I am a consultant who was assigned a project with an employer in California. I was part of a team of consultants assigned to the project. The project ended up costing the client more money then originally budgeted due to promises made by my organization and general mismanagement by of the project itself by my company and the client. The client was looking to receive money back on consulting fees and accused both myself and another consultant of lying on timesheets, being tardy, taking late lunches, improper expenses (billed to the client), and that our (the other consultant and I) relationship interfered with our quality of work thereby causing the project to fail and go over budget. The client had no grounds for the accusations made i.e.; we sign automated timesheets which are approved by our managers, we were not given a set time to arrive to work (we would come in around 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. depending on the amount of work and if we had to work with other employees at the client), and we turn in expense reports on a fairly regular basis. I had submitted at least 5 or 6 expense reports prior to the allegations with no comments regarding improper expenses made by the client. The relationship between the other consultant and I had no bearing on work performed. We worked with two separate departments and we have different consulting responsibilities. That being said, the client made the accusations against us to our company and demanded money back for our consulting visits (I was at the client over the course of 4 to 5 months). My manager contacted me stating that the client was making accusations which could get me fired and wanted to know what was going on. I explained the situation and did not hear about the incident again from my manager until a month later (May 2005). I was working on another project with the same managing director who managed the project above. The managing director emailed me accusing of talking behind his back to the employees at the current assignment and CC'd my manager. I in turn emailed my manager stating that I felt I was being held to a different standard due to the accusations made by the client in California which was effecting my relationship with managers of my current projects and that I felt I was being setup to fail. She replied that I was not being setup to fail but that I showed poor judgment (stating that we should have gotten client approval for expenses and start times although that is not documented anywhere in the employee manual, job description, or any other document indicating consultant responsibilities).

I was late to a consultant meeting two days ago due to a medical condition which I had already discussed with my manager. When I arrived, I went outside to say hello to other consultants. While outside my manager walked out and screamed "What are you trying to do - get yourself fired" in the presence of about 20 other consultants. When I tried to explain - she said that she was "too pissed to talk to me". I was extremely upset and felt I needed to get someone else involved in the matter. I went to a colleague of my manger (the other consultant’s manager involved in this mess who had first hand knowledge of the issues going on) and told him the situation. I did not feel comfortable approaching my manager after her outburst by myself. He then suggested we talk to my manger with him there as a buffer. A meeting ensued at which point my manager indicated that I would be receiving a letter from HR which indicated HR’s findings and that I needed to sign the document acknowledging my fault in the matter. I never spoke to HR nor have I been told of all of the accusations made against me. I never had a chance to defend the accusations I only spoke to my manager once when she asked me "what was going on" as stated above. Subsequent to that, I was told the following day that I was going to be fired because she feels my "attitude has changed".

I feel the false accusations made by the client have led to defamation of character which resulted in my termination. I also feel as though, I never had a chance to defend myself nor have I seen any proof that their accusations could be construed as true statements. Would this be a case of defamation? If so, who is at fault the client or my company? The client is based in California and my company is based in Virginia - which state laws apply to this case (if there is a case)?
 



Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top