defamation of character/workplace violence

[LauraL.]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma an "at will" state

I was fired yesterday (1-19-2011). It started with an incident that did not pertain to me but a friend of mine that I witnessed. She was repeating what someone else said and it had the "n" word in it. She turned around and saw her other friend who happened to be black. She apologized profusely and immediately knew she had hurt her friend. Her friend said that she knew there was no harm ment and put her arm around her and said she forgave her. Everything seemed to be ok at that point. I was a witness to this and I also apologized to her for my friend. I was very embarassed even though I did not say it. Later that day my friend found out that there was a formal complaint lodged against her and she was put on probation for a year. Once this happened, both my friend and I stopped talking to her other friend. In my opinion, when I apologized to her for what my friend said, she told me that it was ok and that she forgave her, so I was upset that she lied. Also, It spoke loudly of her character. We had decided that it would be best to just stay away. Later, another co worker had tried to push us into making more comments to her. It was then that we realized that the co worker, who is hispanic, encouraged the woman to file the complaint. Again, we stayed away from both of them. We did not look in their direction and we said nothing further to either of them. Part of what was told to my friend by our supervisor was to not speak to them, so we didn't. The day before yesterday, the same black woman went to our lead clerk and stated in a very loud voice "I ain't afraid of these mother f@#*#s, I will kick all their asses." My friend and I carpool together and when we were in the car on our way home we questioned what that was about. My friend did say that she saw the hispanic woman at the black womans station just prior to that. The following day, after waiting to see if the lead clerk told our supervisor what had happened the evening before, The black woman approached my friends desk and accused her of talking about her and causing trouble. At that point, we really became worried and realized that our lead clerk never mentioned the incident of the previous evening. In my opinion, that was workplace violence and I wrote a statement as to what she had said and what she had called us and gave the original to my supervisor and kept a copy. Later that day, I was called to HR. I thought it would be about the statement I wrote. I was informed that I was being terminated because I was instigating the situation and I had made "off color" comment about mexicans. This was a total suprize to me and asked what comments I was supposed to have said. I was told that they would not tell me. I asked if this pertained to the statement I wrote about the previous evening and the HR lady had no idea of what had happened. My supervisor never turned the statement into HR. When I mentioned what it said, they pushed me out the door. I was denied the knowledge of what was said about me, I was labeled a racist, and the workplace violence was allowed to happen.
Do I have any rights with this?

 

[KnownOne]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma an "at will" state

I was fired yesterday (1-19-2011). It started with an incident that did not pertain to me but a friend of mine that I witnessed. She was repeating what someone else said and it had the "n" word in it. She turned around and saw her other friend who happened to be black. She apologized profusely and immediately knew she had hurt her friend. Her friend said that she knew there was no harm ment and put her arm around her and said she forgave her. Everything seemed to be ok at that point. I was a witness to this and I also apologized to her for my friend. I was very embarassed even though I did not say it. Later that day my friend found out that there was a formal complaint lodged against her and she was put on probation for a year. Once this happened, both my friend and I stopped talking to her other friend. In my opinion, when I apologized to her for what my friend said, she told me that it was ok and that she forgave her, so I was upset that she lied. Also, It spoke loudly of her character. We had decided that it would be best to just stay away. Later, another co worker had tried to push us into making more comments to her. It was then that we realized that the co worker, who is hispanic, encouraged the woman to file the complaint. Again, we stayed away from both of them. We did not look in their direction and we said nothing further to either of them. Part of what was told to my friend by our supervisor was to not speak to them, so we didn't. The day before yesterday, the same black woman went to our lead clerk and stated in a very loud voice "I ain't afraid of these mother f@#*#s, I will kick all their asses." My friend and I carpool together and when we were in the car on our way home we questioned what that was about. My friend did say that she saw the hispanic woman at the black womans station just prior to that. The following day, after waiting to see if the lead clerk told our supervisor what had happened the evening before, The black woman approached my friends desk and accused her of talking about her and causing trouble. At that point, we really became worried and realized that our lead clerk never mentioned the incident of the previous evening. In my opinion, that was workplace violence and I wrote a statement as to what she had said and what she had called us and gave the original to my supervisor and kept a copy. Later that day, I was called to HR. I thought it would be about the statement I wrote. I was informed that I was being terminated because I was instigating the situation and I had made "off color" comment about mexicans. This was a total suprize to me and asked what comments I was supposed to have said. I was told that they would not tell me. I asked if this pertained to the statement I wrote about the previous evening and the HR lady had no idea of what had happened. My supervisor never turned the statement into HR. When I mentioned what it said, they pushed me out the door. I was denied the knowledge of what was said about me, I was labeled a racist, and the workplace violence was allowed to happen.
Do I have any rights with this?

Nah they can fire you if they want to.

 

[swalsh411]

File for unemployment.

 

[Hot Topic]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma an "at will" state

I was fired yesterday (1-19-2011). It started with an incident that did not pertain to me but a friend of mine that I witnessed. She was repeating what someone else said and it had the "n" word in it. She turned around and saw her other friend who happened to be black. She apologized profusely and immediately knew she had hurt her friend. Her friend said that she knew there was no harm ment and put her arm around her and said she forgave her. Everything seemed to be ok at that point. I was a witness to this and I also apologized to her for my friend. I was very embarassed even though I did not say it. Later that day my friend found out that there was a formal complaint lodged against her and she was put on probation for a year. Once this happened, both my friend and I stopped talking to her other friend. In my opinion, when I apologized to her for what my friend said, she told me that it was ok and that she forgave her, so I was upset that she lied. Also, It spoke loudly of her character. We had decided that it would be best to just stay away. Later, another co worker had tried to push us into making more comments to her. It was then that we realized that the co worker, who is hispanic, encouraged the woman to file the complaint. Again, we stayed away from both of them. We did not look in their direction and we said nothing further to either of them. Part of what was told to my friend by our supervisor was to not speak to them, so we didn't. The day before yesterday, the same black woman went to our lead clerk and stated in a very loud voice "I ain't afraid of these mother f@#*#s, I will kick all their asses." My friend and I carpool together and when we were in the car on our way home we questioned what that was about. My friend did say that she saw the hispanic woman at the black womans station just prior to that. The following day, after waiting to see if the lead clerk told our supervisor what had happened the evening before, The black woman approached my friends desk and accused her of talking about her and causing trouble. At that point, we really became worried and realized that our lead clerk never mentioned the incident of the previous evening. In my opinion, that was workplace violence and I wrote a statement as to what she had said and what she had called us and gave the original to my supervisor and kept a copy. Later that day, I was called to HR. I thought it would be about the statement I wrote. I was informed that I was being terminated because I was instigating the situation and I had made "off color" comment about mexicans. This was a total suprize to me and asked what comments I was supposed to have said. I was told that they would not tell me. I asked if this pertained to the statement I wrote about the previous evening and the HR lady had no idea of what had happened. My supervisor never turned the statement into HR. When I mentioned what it said, they pushed me out the door. I was denied the knowledge of what was said about me, I was labeled a racist, and the workplace violence was allowed to happen.
Do I have any rights with this?

Your friend had already apologized for repeating the statement with the epithet in it. There was no reason for you to apologize for her again.

This situation sounds very much like a bunch of kids in high school.

 

[KnownOne]

Your friend had already apologized for repeating the statement with the epithet in it. There was no reason for you to apologize for her again.

This situation sounds very much like a bunch of kids in high school.

If only I could have gotten kids expelled for calling me cracker...

 

[Proserpina]

If only I could have gotten kids expelled for calling me cracker...

Well, truth IS a defense to a defamation suit.

 

[KnownOne]

Well, truth IS a defense to a defamation suit.

Tell that to Goldman Sachs

 

[LauraL.]

Nah they can fire you if they want to.

What about the fact that they did nothing about the threat to kick our asses. That falls under workplace violence and they ignored that fact. What if she decides to take action on that?

 

[mlane58]

What about the fact that they did nothing about the threat to kick our asses. That falls under workplace violence and they ignored that fact. What if she decides to take action on that?

Take action for what? Was she physically injured or assualted?

 

[swalsh411]

What about the fact that they did nothing about the threat to kick our asses. That falls under workplace violence and they ignored that fact. What if she decides to take action on that?

There is nothing anybody can do to force the employer to take action based on a threat. They are not law enforcement. The matter can be reported to the police however. (not that they can be forced to do anything either)

 

[commentator]

Just because you chose to define this situation as "workplace violence" does not make it so. I don't see any defamation of character here, either. It sounds as though you were 'way over-invovled in this, and as they said when they fired you, you were the one who was keeping it going, firing back, defending your friend so you thought. No, you did not have a right to do this without the company responding as they saw fit.

So you are terminated, and your only recourse is to file for unemployment. No one harrassed you, no one mistreated you on the basis of your color, your sex, your religion, any the EEOC criteria.

You took upon yourself to have a little battle with co-workers regarding your friend's disciplinary situation, and you were terminated for it. What the person said to another party is not workplace violence perpetuated against you, and even if she had said it directly to you, unless she actually assaulted you, even if you might have called the police and pressed charges against her for assault,you would have no say in what the employer did to handle this situation.

The unemployment office will probably approve your claim, since I'm not seeing any real misconduct here unless you have a history of disciplinary write up and warnings about this type of behavior before.

 

[LauraL.]

I, in no way, instigated the situation and challenge any and all who say I did. I chose not to have any contact that was not necessary with the parties. By not saying hello or good morning is not instigating. I made no comment to them, I cast no looks in their direction. The burden of proof will fall upon the supervisor, not me. I did nothing wrong. Neither did my friend. She remained professional and polite because her particular job required interaction with the women. I had advised my friend to take her licks and let it blow over. I did, however, also suggest to my friend to get a small notebook and keep notes because, I am not stupid and knew that these women would further push the envelope. We were following the rules. We were waiting for the chain of command to work and it failed. The woman that made the threat was looking directly at my friend and was so aggressive that the lead person (a female) was on the verge of crying. We waited the next morning to see if the lead person would report the incident. To our knowledge, she did not. The woman who made the threat once again approached my friends desk without a work related reason ,stood there and stared at her. At that point, I, as a witness, and fully within my rights as a witness, wrote a statement and delivered it to our supervisor. This is not instigating. My friend also made a verbal report to our supervisor and was advised by our supervisor to write a statement. Our supervisor told her she would come by and get it and never did.
Verbal threats of violence do fall under workplace violence,and they don't have to be made directly towards you. Infact, by failing to report such an act, may make you just as responsible for failure to act. Check it with OSHA. By our making statemnts of the threat and being fired within hours falls under the Whistleblowers Protection Act. Having been an employee of both the sate and federal government before, I am very aware of certian situations and how to properly handle them because, tho I was not involved, I have witnessed such things before. I was not aware of the civilian aspect. But there are laws and everyone has rights. There did not need to be physical contact, only a statement of violence, for the report to be made, and for failure to act properly and the retaliation. The burden of proof, like I said, falls on the employer as far as the reason for termination. If they cannot prove that I was instigating and they cannot prove that I made "off color" comments, (which I did not instigate and I am in no way racist and in no way made any "off color" comments) then it falls under retaliation, which IS against the law.

 

[cbg]

Then you go right ahead and report it to any government agency you think will be interested. Please do not hold your breath waiting for the big payoff.

 

[>Charlotte<]

The burden of proof, like I said, falls on the employer as far as the reason for termination. If they cannot prove that I was instigating and they cannot prove that I made "off color" comments, (which I did not instigate and I am in no way racist and in no way made any "off color" comments) then it falls under retaliation, which IS against the law.

If you have all the answers, why did you need to come here for advice? But that's a rhetorical question. You're wrong. There is no "burden of proof" on the employer, and they don't have to prove anything. Look up "at-will employment".

You came here for advice and you've gotten excellent advice. You have every right to ignore what you're being told, and you have every right to believe what you want to believe.

Good luck.

 

[mlane58]

Verbal threats of violence do fall under workplace violence,and they don't have to be made directly towards you. Infact, by failing to report such an act, may make you just as responsible for failure to act.

Sorry but I agree with commentator here. Just because you think it is workplace violence doesn't make it so.

By our making statemnts of the threat and being fired within hours falls under the Whistleblowers Protection Act.

Unless you made a complaint to a federal or state agency regarding this, then the whistleblowers act doesn't come in to play here.

The burden of proof, like I said, falls on the employer as far as the reason for termination. If they cannot prove that I was instigating and they cannot prove that I made "off color" comments, (which I did not instigate and I am in no way racist and in no way made any "off color" comments) then it falls under retaliation, which IS against the law.

Wrong again, unless the retaliation was because you reported a case of discrimination, harassment or other issue involving your race, gender, age, religion, etc..... then it isn't illegal retaliation.