Former employee theatens court...

[palmshores]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I will make this as simple as possible:

I am an employee for a large hotel chain, I am a night manager.

A foreign student from Europe worked for this hotel as a housekeeper.

I granted permission for this employee to use the computer in my office for immigration paperwork. She did this on three occasions. I know that I should not have done this and technically, it is against company policy.

She became very interested in me; however, I was not interested in her. She asked for me (at the employee entrance/security dep.)On several occasions and made strange comments that lead me to believe that she was "obsessed" with me.

This employee came to the workplace, late at night, when she was not scheduled and refused to leave (she appeared to be very intoxicated). The Security department told her that she would be trespassed if she did not leave. After several warnings she still refused to leave. She was trespassed and told to see her manager on her next scheduled day. Again, she came back on property and was escorted off again.

She was terminated by the personnel director and not by me.

She has said that she is going to take ME to court. It seems that she is out to get me. She has told other employees that I will have to go to court in October. Other than letting her use a company computer, I have done nothing wrong.

I did not terminate her nor make any decisions on this.
What should I do?

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I will make this as simple as possible:

I am an employee for a large hotel chain, I am a night manager.

A foreign student from Europe worked for this hotel as a housekeeper.

I granted permission for this employee to use the computer in my office for immigration paperwork. She did this on three occasions. I know that I should not have done this and technically, it is against company policy.

She became very interested in me; however, I was not interested in her. She asked for me (at the employee entrance/security dep.)On several occasions and made strange comments that lead me to believe that she was "obsessed" with me.

This employee came to the workplace, late at night, when she was not scheduled and refused to leave (she appeared to be very intoxicated). The Security department told her that she would be trespassed if she did not leave. After several warnings she still refused to leave. She was trespassed and told to see her manager on her next scheduled day. Again, she came back on property and was escorted off again.

She was terminated by the personnel director and not by me.

She has said that she is going to take ME to court. It seems that she is out to get me. She has told other employees that I will have to go to court in October. Other than letting her use a company computer, I have done nothing wrong.

I did not terminate her nor make any decisions on this.
What should I do?

My response:

At this point, there's nothing for you to "do".

When something happens, from a legal standpoint, if it happens at all, then contact us.

IAAL

 

[Beth3]

"What should I do?" Nothing. The ball is in her court, although I don't think you need to lose any sleep over this. Nothing you related suggests she has any legal claim against you of any kind. Chalk it up to big talk and idle threats. She sounds like a nut case (and a drunk.) Aren't you glad you didn't get involved with her? That sure is a bullet you dodged.

 

[palmshores]

I am only 23 years old. I have never had to deal with any court or legal claims.

It is very disturbing when someone says that they are going to sue you. I hear crazy lawsuits on the news all the time, it makes me wonder if she can actually pull this off.?.

She is directing all of these threats towards me. I would hope that it would be the hotel that would go to court and not me.
(I just finished the Law Enforcement Academy and am waiting to get a job with a police department. I don't need to be involved in any legal "stuff" or court dates.

I told the director of personnel and my direct boss that I let her use my computer three times. They issued me a verbal warning.

The bottom line is. She was terminated for breaking company policy. New employees have to sign a paper during orientation that states they will not come back on property after they are scheduled. Again, I didn’t have anything to do with her termination.

Should I expect to be in court in October? Could something like this even make it to court?

 

[cbg]

It is exceedingly unlikely that she will be able to file any kind of case against you. I predict that you will NOT be in court in October.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

It is exceedingly unlikely that she will be able to file any kind of case against you. I predict that you will NOT be in court in October.

My response:

Canadians are also very optimistic. They also carry around crystal wa-wa balls.

IAAL

 

[cbg]

Yeah, but as I keep telling people, my crystal ball is out for cleaning.

 

[Sinsaint26]

There are only two types of court actions could try to take against you. Small claims court would be one but she has no damages attributed to you. The company made the decision to fire her for something she had done that didn't even involve you. As Judge Judy would say, she's a drunken idiot who got herself fired. Or she could try to file a suit for discrimination, sexual harassment or wrongful termination (who knows, she sounds wierd) in state or federal court. But she can't just walk into the courthouse and say she wants to file a lawsuit of this type and go to court in October. She needs to file complaints with state agencies first and allow them time to investigate. Investigations take time and some states have minimum time frames (anywhere from 180 days up to one year) in which a case must remain within the agency before a complaintant can request a Right To Sue letter which is required before someone can sue an employer. Then, if she can actually get a lawyer to take the case, a lawsuit can be filed. It generally takes between 18 and 24 months for a lawsuit to go to court at that point. But her case wouldn't make it passed summary judgement anyway so you would never see the inside of a courtroom anyway. The most important thing is that supervisors generally are never personally sued so if she does try this the company will take care of all the legal issues.

She obviously doesn't know the laws in our country and is just blowing smoke. I think you can safely write this off as a wierdo just being wierd and be thankful. You learned an easy lesson on why not to get involved with co-workers.

 

[Beth3]

palmshores, there is nothing here to make it INTO court, much less some sort of court action in October. (a) She has to have some basis to file suit against you to begin with, which she doesn't, and (b) she has to have the money to retain a lawyer and pay for the cost of litigation, which is quite expensive.

Just forget about this.

 

[BrianV]

Um, could we have that in English please?

 

[cbg]

games, I don't understand your post either, but for the record, I'm the Canadian IAAL was talking to/about, and was referencing previous conversations between us that you were not party to. Forget it.

 

[games]

I understand that, and apologize for the confusion.
Sorry.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

"Games" is history.

IAAL

 

[palmshores]

I do appreciate your thoughts on this.

She is in the U.S. only for a few months; I believe that she is due to return to Eastern Europe by the end of October. If she returns back home (as she is required to do), and still pursues this legal action, how will it work? ---How can she sue the company or me if she is in Europe?

I do feel better getting your opinions on this, but I like to be prepared for anything!

Thanks.

 

[Beth3]

palmshores, I'm going to say this for the last time. THERE IS NO LEGAL ACTION FOR HER TO PURSUE.

She's pissed, she's irrational, she's got a drinking problem, she's talking stupid. Now will you please just forget about it? She's going back to Europe and you'll never hear from her or about her again.