Terminated & Being Kept from Advancing Elsewhere

What is the name of your state? Florida

I was working at a McDonalds. A friend of mine who also worked there alledgely stole the assistant manager's keys, got the safe combination, and went in, in the middle of the night and stole money from the safe. When we were all questioned I told them who I thought had done it because he had owed me $300 and payed me the day after the robbery. I gave the money back to the store owner and then was told I would only be suspended from my job for two weeks. I was fired. The manager of the store was not fired even though she knew the keys had been stolen and she didn't have the locks changed. The assistant manager who's keys were stolen didn't lose his job. And the guy's girlfriend, who was also an assistant manager, didn't lose her job even though she went on a trip with him the day after the robbery and he was spending cash very freely. When this man went to trial, he was found not guilty because there was no evidence to convict him other than my word saying that he had given me the money he owed me.
I am now working at a different McDonalds owned by someone else and I had told them of the situation before I was hired. It wasn't supposed to be a problem. I have completed a couple of the managment courses but today was told I would not be able to move up in managment because of what happened at the other McDonalds. I can understand my present employers stand but I"m wondering if I have a case against the owners of the other McDonalds for wrongful termination and also for defemation of character.

No to both.

There is a GREAT deal of misinformation being passed around about what wrongful termination means, and the same on defamation of character.

A wrongful termination does not mean one that is unfair, unjust, unexpected, based on incorrect or inaccurate information, or even, in most cases, one that is a violation of company policy. It means that the law forbids an employer to terminate someone for the reason they used.

In your case, the employer evidently believed that you were involved in the theft. That being the case, he is legally entitled to fire you, EVEN IF HE IS 100% WRONG. Since they could legally fire you for that reason, by definition you were not wrongfully terminated.

To have a case for defamation, the burden of proof would be on you to show that:

1.) The employer deliberately and knowingly LIED about what happened. Not that they were mistaken, not that they misunderstood, not that they jumped to the wrong conclusion based on incorrect or insufficient evidence, but that they KNEW that what they were saying was incorrect and deliberately said so anyway.

2.) This information was published to an audience.

3.) As a direct result of this statement, you suffered damages.

Your former employer has not made any statement about you. Therefore, you have no defamation case.