workplace slander termination - is there ever a case worth pursuing?

[yoga_girl]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Florida

Here's the short version of me story. A female coworker accused me (I'm female and in a different department than her) of sexual harassment. She based her complaint on two actions. First, I placed my hand on her hip and told her she looked great since she'd lost a bunch of weight. About a month later, I saw her in a meeting and leaned over and whispered "Hi, sexy." HR investigated and the case was formally resolved.

Now (two months later) my boss tells me he can't renew my annual contract, but can't tell me why. If I agree to go quietly, he promised an exit interview. Prior to this coworker's allegations, I have never been in any trouble and always received excellent reviews. I believe that I am being terminated because administration would prefer to get rid of the chance of future claims. The can't get rid of her now because it would look retaliatory (IMHO, she may have filed her complaint to protect her own job). If I leave, then they can get rid of her a few months later.

Florida is an at-will state, and slander is harder to prove then libel. Her charges are slander per se (I think), and I am going to have real and significant financial loss. But I see the typical response on this board is that slander is very difficult to prove and probably not often worth pursuing.

So my question is this. Is there ever a case where slander is worth pursuing? If so, where would I find an attorney? I've tried everyone in my area, and cannot find anyone who is interested in taking on one of the largest employers in the region.

 

[eerelations]

Sometimes there's a pusuable case, sometimes there isn't - it all depends on the details of each individual situation. If you provide us with some details about your situation, we'll be able to tell you whether or not you have a case that's worth pursuing.

 

[yoga_girl]

sorry

sorry! somehow my entire post was deleted. I went in and edited the OP and rewrote it.

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Florida

Here's the short version of me story. A female coworker accused me (I'm female and in a different department than her) of sexual harassment. She based her complaint on two actions. First, I placed my hand on her hip and told her she looked great since she'd lost a bunch of weight. About a month later, I saw her in a meeting and leaned over and whispered "Hi, sexy." HR investigated and the case was formally resolved.

Now (two months later) my boss tells me he can't renew my annual contract, but can't tell me why. If I agree to go quietly, he promised an exit interview. Prior to this coworker's allegations, I have never been in any trouble and always received excellent reviews. I believe that I am being terminated because administration would prefer to get rid of the chance of future claims. The can't get rid of her now because it would look retaliatory (IMHO, she may have filed her complaint to protect her own job). If I leave, then they can get rid of her a few months later.

Florida is an at-will state, and slander is harder to prove then libel. Her charges are slander per se (I think), and I am going to have real and significant financial loss. But I see the typical response on this board is that slander is very difficult to prove and probably not often worth pursuing.

So my question is this. Is there ever a case where slander is worth pursuing? If so, where would I find an attorney? I've tried everyone in my area, and cannot find anyone who is interested in taking on one of the largest employers in the region.

The thing is, sexual harassment is largely dependent upon how the recipient (victim) perceives things. Whispering "hi sexy" is out of line in the workplace - no matter what.

I see no defamation here.

 

[commentator]

How on earth are you so completely sure that the reason you are not being retained or your contract not renewed is this coworker may have future claims? I thought you said the matter was formally settled. There must be a little more to it than you've described here, for you to be this sure your employers are worried about future claims from her. Incidentally, she may have filed the complaint because she was trying to protect her own job, as you said, but if there was absolutely no grounds for her complaint, she wouldn't have been able to do this anyway. You gave her grounds.

Especially since they gave you an easy out, as in lack of work lay off, 'no contract renewal' In other words, they did not terminate you for cause, they elected not to renew your contract, no reason given. Florida is an "at will" state. They can terminate you at will. Maybe they just ran out of work for you, personally and do not need any reason to defend that decison.Maybe they decied you were a bad actor and decided to terminate you. So what law did they violate? I'm puzzled about their offer that if you "go quietly" they'll give you an exit interview. In the first place, you don't have much option
about going quietly. What is your other alternative? In the second place, what's the deal with an exit interview?

It appears it would be virtually impossible for you to prove in any meaningful way that the coworker's complaints (which you would also have to prove were false or invalid) resulted in your firing and caused you to suffer financial damage.

I agree with the person that said touching a co-worker on the hip while giving a compliment about their attractiveness, and "Hi, sexy" wouldn't be appropriate, for either a male or female supervisor to a supervisee of either sex. I'd probably have complained about it as well. File for unemployment benefits and move on, telling your future job prospects your contract was not renewed and you shouldn't suffer any undue damages. Keep your opinons about your co worker's attractiveness to yourself in your next position.

 

[cbg]

Ah, no. Her charges are not slander. Not even close. On the basis of what you've posted, HR cut you a break in not firing you when she made her initial claims. Your behavior was totally inappropriate and it's not impossible that a claim of sexual harassment could have stood up.

No, you have no case for slander. You have no case for wrongful termination. She has a protected right under the law to report perceived sexual harassment and if the company lets her go because of her claim or any thought of additional claims, the company will lose the resulting lawsuit. You, on the other hand, have no such legal protection to make inappropriate comments to a subordinate of either gender and "failing to renew your contract" is the nicest possible way of the company letting you know that.

If they'd done it the other way, you might not have gotten unemployment. This way, you should. File for it and move on - you've got no legal grounds to take any kind of action other than that.

 

[yoga_girl]

Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, though, she was NOT a subordinate. We have the same rank, in different departments. Furthermore, we had socialized outside of work on several occasions, which I thought was a friendship (again, we are both female!). She had confided in me her concerns about her weight, her divorce, and her approaching 50th birthday. She knows my husband and in fact has been flirtatious with him on more than one occasion. I was trying to be supportive, and HR clearly concluded that as well.

While my behavior was inappropriate and perhaps offensive, it probably would not pass muster as harassment by a reasonable person who was familiar with both parties.

I appreciate the reinforcement of what I already believed to be a hopeless case. The question about what else might be driving the decision is worth more consideration. I have learned an important lesson about friendships in the workplace and won't make this mistake again.

I am interested, for real, in the question of whether a slander case is ever worthwhile? Anyone on here ever seen one that resulted in anything besides a bunch of money for the lawyers?

 

[Proserpina]

Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, though, she was NOT a subordinate. We have the same rank, in different departments. Furthermore, we had socialized outside of work on several occasions, which I thought was a friendship (again, we are both female!). She had confided in me her concerns about her weight, her divorce, and her approaching 50th birthday. She knows my husband and in fact has been flirtatious with him on more than one occasion. I was trying to be supportive, and HR clearly concluded that as well.

While my behavior was inappropriate and perhaps offensive, it probably would not pass muster as harassment by a reasonable person who was familiar with both parties.

It would pass in every establishment in which I've worked - and I've worked in some really seedy bars, too.

I appreciate the reinforcement of what I already believed to be a hopeless case. The question about what else might be driving the decision is worth more consideration. I have learned an important lesson about friendships in the workplace and won't make this mistake again.

I am interested, for real, in the question of whether a slander case is ever worthwhile? Anyone on here ever seen one that resulted in anything besides a bunch of money for the lawyers?

Defamation cases are notoriously difficult to litigate. They're expensive in terms of both time and money - think 3 years plus, and at least $50k (and that's up front). Attorneys don't take these cases on contingency unless they're certain of a positive result, the defendant is wealthy AND there's a better-than-decent chance at collecting.

In other words, for your average citizen like you or me, it's not going to happen.

 

[cbg]

I work in HR, and have worked in some aspect of HR for some 30 plus years. Any place I have ever worked, the least that would have happened to you is that you would have been put on last chance warning, and some places you would have been fired. You can downplay it all you want but yes, it WAS harassment whether you want to accept that or not. Your HR may have decided it was harmless harassment, but where the law is concerned, it's in the eye of the beholder. If the recipient considers inappropriate language to be harassment, then it is.

 

[quincy]

...
I am interested, for real, in the question of whether a slander case is ever worthwhile? Anyone on here ever seen one that resulted in anything besides a bunch of money for the lawyers?

I agree with Proserpina's assessment for the most part. The cases you tend to see that make it to trial are often so costly that an average person would have a difficult time with the expense involved, and good defamation attorneys rarely come cheap.

For a fairly recent and rather typical example of a slander case that made it to trial is the one between casino owner Steve Wynn and film producer ("Girls Gone Wild") Joe Francis. Briefly, Francis told others that Wynn threatened to kill him over a gambling debt. Wynn sued. In September, Wynn was awarded $20 million (compensatory and punitive) in damages. The costs to pursue the action were also in the millions.

Defamation attorneys will not only look at the facts of a case but they will look at the parties involved (and their bank accounts) to determine if a suit will be worth their own time and expense. Defamation actions are generally fought vigorously by both plaintiff and defendant, which ratchets up the cost, and it often takes years for a single case to work its way through the court system. An attorney has to have some faith that there will be money at the end of all the work to make the time investment worthwhile.

That said, most cases of ALL kinds will settle prior to a trial and, if they are not big-name cases, if they are regular person versus regular person, they can go unnoticed by the media and they will then go unnoticed by the public. But they exist. Defamation suits (both libel and slander) are not rare legal actions.

For a look at a suit much different than the Wynn/Francis case, there was a recent slander action filed by an ordinary person against another ordinary person that actually made it to trial in Iowa. This can give you an idea of what sort of case can be worth pursuing. You can check out Huyser v Lynch, No 11-1577, Iowa Ct App, Dec 2012.

To state the facts of Huyser very briefly, a man and his mother (John and Mary Lynch) made defamatory comments to the man's minor child about the child's mother, John's former partner (Shaefen Huyser). Huyser sued.

The Lynch's moved for dismissal of the suit, arguing that Huyser had suffered no demonstrable injury and there was no evidence of reputational harm. The Court, however, ruled the statements that were made by the Lynch's were slanderous per se and actionable without proof of harm. Defamatory per se statements are defamatory "on their face" and reputational injury is presumed.

But, because no harm was demonstrated, Huyser was limited to recovering on emotional distress and on the consequences that are normally experienced when statements are made that are per se defamation. Awarded to Huyser were damages in the amounts of $55,000 compensatory and $100,000 punitive against John Lynch, and Mary Lynch was held liable for $10,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 punitive. The awarded damages were affirmed on appeal.

So, was it worthwhile for Huyser to pursue a slander action? Probably.

It can be better for all parties to reach a settlement instead of spending more money for a trial and then gambling on a jury decision, but sometimes a party is reluctant to settle and wants to take his/her chances with a jury. Sometimes that is wise, other times, not so much.