W
whtrabbit77
Guest
Orange County, CA: while on vacation in Alaska my GM, who was filling in for me as store manager, was notified by the owner of my company that the August '01 bank statement showed two deposits missing from my store. one deposit had been made with no money in the deposit bag (just a deposit slip) and one was not deposited at all. the GM tried to find anything regarding these deposits but was unsuccessful even with my employees to help. also I spoke to him from Alaska while this was going on and he made no mention of the problems that had arisen in my absence. Upon my return to work my GM took me aside and told me of the missing deposits and accussed me of steeling the missing money. he insisted that I was the only one involved and threatened me with prosecution (the owner and GM had planned on having me arrested as soon as I arrived, but were persuaded to allow me to explain first by another employee). I was allowed to leave the store with copies of all paperwork, including timesheets, so that I could try and find an excuse for the missing money. In a six hour period I found that one of the missing deposits had been made on the 31st which caused it to post on the Sept. '01 bank statement. as for the other deposit that was made with no cash in the deposit bag, I was able to prove that I was not in the store the day it was made, therefore making it impossible for me to steel. However, despite my proven innocence I was demoted from store manager to sales. I later discovered that while on vacation all store employees were notified that I had been fired for the missing deposits and an employee of mine was promoted to fill my position. Also two of my employees were told that I was going to be prosecuted for the crime. This information was told to the employees four days before I was even back home. Because of these four days of presumed guilt, word has now spread throughout the mall the store is located in, as well as to some of our competitors and sales reps. I feel like I have been marked as a theif now despite the owner and GM stating my innocence to the crime. Also I am now experiencing severe anxiety attacks when going to work or talking about the inncedent. Is this grounds for a defamation suit?