Hostile Work Environment?

What is the name of your state? Oregon

My husband and I were recently terminated from our company. I am a Software Project Manager and he is a Senior Software Engineer. I work very closely with my husband's department and manage the projects within that department.

Recently the company hired an experienced developer to work with us. There have been an inordinate amount of upheavals in this company. A lot of unhappy employees, so in small groups the developers have each said things about the employer in order to blow off steam. Recently, this new employee sent an electronic memo to the CEO and President stating that my husband and I were planning on taking intellectual property from the company and starting our own venture (completely untrue). This employee also told the CEO and President about a lot of other conversations that were held, but embellished on them extraordinarily (I never saw the email but was told about it verbally in bits and pieces).

My husband was confronted about his alleged attempt to start his own company. The CEO was very angry at him and it took an entire day of talking to convince the CEO that this was absolutely not the case. After the email was sent to the CEO, this employee left work for the rest of the day. The CEO and my husband and I felt that this employee would not be returning after sending such a defaming email. So the next morning I was sitting with the developers discussing what had happened and this employee walked in reporting to work. I was beyond shocked and said to him (verbatim) "I can't believe you are here. I would strongly advise you find somewhere else to be. You have caused a lot of damage to this company by sending your email." He immediately got up and walked out and went to the CEO and told him that he was being subjected to a hostile work environment because of my statement. As a result, my husband and I were both terminated immediately because the CEO said his lawyer told him that he couldn't touch this new employee and had to let us go.

This is a bit jumbled because I'm still very upset and feel I have been royally screwed. There is a lot more to the story, but for now maybe this will suffice.

Is what I did/said to this employee creating a "hostile work environment" legally?

Your post doesn't even remotely qualify as a Hostile Work Enviroment.

To meet that definition, the employee must be able to show that s/he is being subjected to either sexual harassment or illegal discrimination under Title VII (race, religion, national origin etc.). It has nothing to do with the atmosphere of your workplace, no matter how unpleasant it may be.

mlane,

I see that you are in Human Resources. I'm curious, but isn't it unusual to be terminated and not be required to sign anything upon leaving the company. They paid us up through the day before yesterday (termination date) and that was it! Thank you for any and all information you could supply me with.

isn't it unusual to be terminated and not be required to sign anything upon leaving the company.

No, actually, it's not. Some companies have paperwork they want signed; others don't. It's up to them.

They have up to 44 days to notify you about your right to COBRA, if appropriate, and if there is a 401k plan it depends on the plan document how long they have to provide you with that information. But there is nothing that the law says has to be signed on the day of termination.