Wrongful accusation - terminated

[Lindsay Susan]

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

I am a 54 year old who has been bartending for over 30 years. I have an excellent reputation in the community. A couple of days ago, the owner/manager of the establishment I work at sat me down and told me that he had to let me go. The reason? A couple who had come in to the bar had complained because the wife, who had had a glass of wine, got sick, passed out later, woke up the next day feeling like she was dying, went to the hospital and they did some blood tests and discovered she had "rufie" in her system. I guess this is a type of date rape drug. The woman and her husband said I had served her the glass of wine. I know nothing of this and was not told who these people are or when the incident occured. Just that the owner had to let me go. I had absolutely nothing to do with this and would submit to a poly. Frankly, the whole thing is quite unbelievable and damaging to my reputation. Can this be done to me and do I have any recourse? Anyone have anything similar happen?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[GonzoFL]

God only knows where else this couple might have had drinks at that night. So you served her a glass of wine....how do they know the drug was in that glass of wine? Did anyone confiscate the glass and test it? I'd say hell know. That's exactly what I would ask the owner/manager....how do they know that I served her the "drugged" wine? Sounds like a bull**** accusation that they have no proof of...or do they? Is there any more information you can give or is this the whole story? Hell, for all we know the husband may have drugged her drink. Your manager must be a real knot head to have let you go if there wasn't any proof of wrong doing on your part. Were you questioned by the police at all....hell were they even notified? I'm not sure what your recourse might be,but someone would need to do allot of explaining to me before I would let this slide.

 

[ecmst12]

It is perfectly legal to fire you for something you did not do.

 

[cbg]

A wrongful termination does not mean that you were fired for something you didn't do; it means you were terminated for a reason prohibited by law.

On the surface, while this may be unfair and unjustified, it is not illegal. Do you have reason to believe there was an ulterior motive on the part of the manager?

 

[quincy]

If you did not doctor any drink with Rohypnol or any other drug, to have someone falsely tell another or others that you did is defamatory per se, and injury to your reputation may be presumed.

The bar manager can choose to believe the couple's story and fire you, or he can legally let you go for any other reason or even no reason at all, as ecmst and cbg said. However, the fact that the manager said he is basing your firing on what the couple falsely said about you shows you have been defamed.

I suggest you contact a New Jersey defamation (character injury/personal injury) attorney, and go over with the attorney ALL of the facts of your situation. There seems to be some vital facts missing from your story here (ie. police involvement). The attorney can let you know if pursuing an action against the couple (whose fingers have apparently pointed to you as the Rohypnol provider) could be successful.

If the couple cannot show a reasonable connection between the glass of wine, you, and the drugs in the woman's system, they may have a hard time defending against a defamation action. Truth, substantial truth, or an honest belief that what they said was true, based on good evidence to support this belief, could be used as their defense.

Should you win a defamation suit (and there is never a guarantee that a suit will be won) damages can be awarded to compensate you for the loss of your job, for the reasonable estimated loss of future earnings, and for the injury suffered to your reputation, which under the circumstances described can be both presumed and demonstrated.

By the way, despite your natural desire to "prove" your innocence, do NOT take a polygraph test. Polygraph tests are notoriously unreliable (the National Academy of Sciences liken the results to no better than a coin toss). Polygraph test results are likely to be of no benefit to you (they are not accepted as evidence in courts), and there is a proven risk of false positives.

Good luck.

 

[Lindsay Susan]

Thanks for your responses

I don't know if the police were ever contacted or became involved. If I were the woman, the first thing I would have done would be to contact the police. I certainly have not heard from them and I don't believe the bar/restaurant owner has either. Like you mentioned, there is no proof that this happened while she was at my establishment, if it did happen at all. Either the owner/manager, who I have worked with for the past 3 1/2 years is losing it, it is something that was completely fabricated, or someone else gave her the drug. I wonder if I should ask him to provide me with more specifics. I didn't at the time he let me go because I was stunned and shocked by the whole thing. I simply returned the key to the business and left. I mean, if business was down or if he felt he and I felt the business should go in a different direction, I could understand this. But why accuse me of putting something in someone's drink? I am a married father with 4 kids and I don't drink or do drugs myself. I would have nothing to gain by doing such a thing. Thanks to everyone for contributing to this discussion. Sounds like a person can get fired for any reason, even one that is not true. I do believe in karma, so that is some consolation.

 

[Lindsay Susan]

One additional thing

The only ulterior motive that I can come up with is that the owner/manager, has something against me because I am not fond of his girlfriend, a waitress/bartender at the same place. He is a married guy with 3 college age kids and has been having an affair with this woman for the past couple of years. She thinks she owns the place and when she and I tend bar together, she is always out smoking or somewhere else in the establishment drinking, talking, etc. She is also not a very good bartender as she cannot remember what kind of drink she made for someone 45 minutes earlier. I have not directly said any of these things to the manager, but he may sense my frustration. Many of the customers will not come in if they know that she is working. Still, would something like this cause him to concoct a crazy story like the one he presented to me? When I asked him to look me in the eyes and tell me that he thinks I spiked someone's drink he said, "well, I can't say that you didn't".

 

[cbg]

Well, unfortunately, even if you are 100% correct, that's not an illegal reason under the law, which means that this isn't a wrongful termination under the law. It is unfair and I would expect that you would be able to collect unemployment since the employer will have a hard time proving misconduct, but it's not illegal.