Disgruntled Employee threatening legal action

[stizzo]

State: NJ

My uncle and I are both managers at our restaurant. We recently terminated an employee, let's call her Jen, for general workplace attitude and tardiness. About a week after her last day, Jen returned with her father. I explained the circumstances of the termination to the father, who seemed to be understanding of the situation at first and made attempts to calm Jen down, who was visibly angry. The entire time my explanation of the situation was calm and kept at a very professional level. Her father and I ended the conversation on a good note and I returned back to the office.

A minute later they were back at my door. Apparently, Jen had just now told her father that during her employment, my uncle had lightly punched her and kicked her (basically made physical contact, but she DID NOT say anything about sexual harrasment). The father now began to threaten me with a lawsuit and talked about pressing charges. I pointed out that it was very interesting to see this story brought to light AFTER her dismissal from our place. At this point I gave up trying to talk sense to them and let them know that I was more than willing to countersue if they pursued legal action.

I am positive that my uncle did not touch her in any inappropriate way, and that she is blowing things up to spite us.

My question is - if she did bring a lawsuit to court, is there a way for us to counter-sue for harrassing us? Would this case be considered as word against word, and if so, how is judgement passed in such cases?

Would really like to hear what everyone thinks of the situation - thanks!

 

[pattytx]

Counter-suit? Nope, not that I can see. Threatening to sue is not criminal harrassment. The fact that this all came up after her termination is suspect. If she was physically assaulted, why didn't she file a police report at the time? If she was sexually harrassed, why didn't she report it up the chain (owner)? How old is "Jen" that her father is involved at all?

Having said that, though, if you have an attorney, I'd certainly give him/her a heads-up. Anybody can sue anybody if they find an attorney who will do it. Doesn't mean they will prevail, but it can cost a lot of money to defend even a frivolous suit.

 

[Beth3]

1. "Jen" is a LOOOOOOONG way from bringing any action against the company/owners and frankly, I wouldn't worry much about this. You'd be hard pressed to find any employer who hasn't had a disgruntled ex-employee threaten to sue over some trumped-up nonsense of which nothing every came.

2. No, you have no basis to counter-sue if she brings a claim, at least that I can see.

If you do receive notice of any legal action (i.e. an EEOC claim or some such thing), then consult with an attorney right away but in the meantime, frankly, I'd just forget about it.

 

[VeronicaLodge]

lol just about everyone that has been fired from here has threatened to sue (not that a lot of people have been fired, but the few that have been....) and so far no one has.