falsely accused of sexual harassment

[tgj]

What is the name of your state? Virginia is the name of the Stae I live in. I worked for a church, Called Christ Chapel, ( I have not seen Christ at this Chapel since I been employed there. One day my boss cme to me and said he wanted to meet with me in his office at 3pm, so I did, He said that a lady told him that I had sexually harassed her, He would not tell me who she was, I was first shocked, then afraid, I told him the truth, He did not believe a word I said, he told me I had to go along with the program if I wanted my job, then he typed up a statement for me to sign. I am very confused, I don't know what to do? anyway I confronted him again and told him my decision was to clear my name and to seek justice, well he fired me, and here I am looking for somebody to give me directions. There is a lot more to this story.

 

[Sinsaint26]

If you believe this is just a cover story then you need to give more details. Based on the information you provided there in nothing illegal in him terminating you. He may have jumped the gun a little but, barring a contract, you are at will. Meaning you can leave at any time or he can terminate you at any time (so long as his reason isn't based on age, sex, gender,...). He will likely come back and say that even an inference of impropriety was enough grounds to terminate you.

 

[Beth3]

Sinsaint is right - you can be terminated for suspicion of sexual harassment. If the pastor wanted to believe the other person and not you, he may do so. If you believe your termination was a pretext and there was some other reason you were fired, you need to post back and explain.

P.S. I'm not aware of Christ making any personal appearances anywhere recently.

 

[Sinsaint26]

Touche' Beth.

 

[erik_pistol]

The employer can terminate you for any reason other than a legally proscribed one (ie race, sex etc)

But, where harassment is concerned the employer does have a duty to perform a fair investigation.

To sue your ex-employer you would have to prove that the investigation was unfair. The original harassment accusation is NOT re-opened.
If your ex-employer chooses to say that he chose to believe the accuser in a pure he said/she said case that is not something you could win.
If however the employer could have verified/disproved the accusers testimony then the employer could fall foul of the law for failing to give you the opportunity to respond to the accusation.

It is "What the employer did by way of investigation" that is central to any potential legal recourse by you.


Rdgs
Erik Pistol
http://mensrights.bizhosting.com
A website describing false accusations of harassment in the workplace and how to counter them.