Case for defamation, mental anguish?

[JackM678]

Texas

I'm a substitute teacher in Texas. One of the schools I used to be a regular at, I had an incident where a student made a false report of me making a derogatory, sexual remark in class.

I got a call from the Assistant Principal and of course I denied it, because it didn't happen. The thought that anyone could say something like that in the middle of class, and it would go unreported until 5 hours later is just not realistic.

However, he told me he'd get back to me after he investigated, he never did. I was never removed from the system, and jobs with that school were coming as available. I still wanted to hear from him personally though.

I eventually emailed him, and he said based on reports of inappropriate remarks, to not come back to that campus. He wouldn't give me any specifics, wouldn't tell me if anything was even investigated, and prior to this I spent weeks with depression, anxiety, unable to work at full capacity, with the fear that I was being plotted against. I still don't even know.

The truth is, that they probably have nothing, but the kid probably makes up stories and has one of those irate parents who thinks their kid is always right, so they don't want to deal with the turmoil, but to make me the victim is just wrong, immoral, and lacks integrity.

So, looking at mental anguish, how hard can it be to prove? Several people witnessed what it did to me. I'm in the process of being hired for a residental job with kids, have a volunteer project coming up, make my income in schools, and I'm planning on adopting in the near future, and here I am worried that someone is out to get me and they won't tell me anything. To someone who isn't a lawyer, this seems like a pretty open and shut case to me. He mishandled the investigation, didn't take proper procedures, and it looks like they feel they have enough concern to not allow me back, but aren't contacting the distinct for some reason to look into it further, and won't give me a yes or no answer of whether or not they substantiated the claims. I'd say that's negligent, and they should pay. I've lost a lot of income over this because I can't focus and go very long without another anxiety attack.

The 2nd question. Is it possible to subpoena them into disclosing the identity of who made the false accusation so I can go after the parents for a suit as well?

Most of my case is moral instead of legal, but I want to take every possible step I can for justice.

 

[RJR]

The 2nd question. Is it possible to subpoena them into disclosing the identity of who made the false accusation so I can go after the parents for a suit as well?

Not commenting on the termination issue, but Parental Liability/Responsibility laws do not allow such actions. Mainly it is for property damage and such the Parents may be liable, and only to a certain $$ figure.

 

[RJR]

I found this for Texas:

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.41.htm

 

[NeilTheCop]

And we wonder why there is a national shortage of teachers.

 

[commentator]

I would most strongly advise you not to poke the bear here. It is obvious that this school official made a judgment call to believe something negative about you, or maybe you simply rubbed him the wrong way when he addressed it with you, whatever. In any case, they have full jurisdiction to decide whom they wish to employ at their school as substitutes.

Now you say that you are about to get a job working with young people anyway, it does not sound as though this person has done anything other than not allowing you to work at his school in particular. If you go in with guns blazing and keep fanning the flames around this very one time thing, without profound definitive proof that they are taking a whole lot of hostile retaliatory actions against you (other than not calling you back there to work) then you will be doing nothing but calling attention to this situation and making much of it.

You are also making yourself sound more unstable, unforgiving, immature and unable to move on. Seeking revenge against a silly kid who made up a story about you, or one school administrator who chose not to use you as a substitute is not a healthy or productive behavior. Unless you have a whole lot of disposable income and plenty of time, there is really no pay off in it except your possible warm feeling of satisfaction when you get "revenge." And you are right, mental anguish is spectacularly hard to document. We pretty much choose the amount of mental anguish we are going to have about something. Work with your counselor and move forward rather than trying to get revenge. "Make them pay" doesn't sound good and does not sound like an attitude I want to see on any person who is working with the children in my school system or that I am allowing to adopt.

 

[Just Blue]

Texas

I'm a substitute teacher in Texas. One of the schools I used to be a regular at, I had an incident where a student made a false report of me making a derogatory, sexual remark in class.

I got a call from the Assistant Principal and of course I denied it, because it didn't happen. The thought that anyone could say something like that in the middle of class, and it would go unreported until 5 hours later is just not realistic.

However, he told me he'd get back to me after he investigated, he never did. I was never removed from the system, and jobs with that school were coming as available. I still wanted to hear from him personally though.

I eventually emailed him, and he said based on reports of inappropriate remarks, to not come back to that campus. He wouldn't give me any specifics, wouldn't tell me if anything was even investigated, and prior to this I spent weeks with depression, anxiety, unable to work at full capacity, with the fear that I was being plotted against. I still don't even know.

The truth is, that they probably have nothing, but the kid probably makes up stories and has one of those irate parents who thinks their kid is always right, so they don't want to deal with the turmoil, but to make me the victim is just wrong, immoral, and lacks integrity.

So, looking at mental anguish, how hard can it be to prove? Several people witnessed what it did to me. I'm in the process of being hired for a residental job with kids, have a volunteer project coming up, make my income in schools, and I'm planning on adopting in the near future, and here I am worried that someone is out to get me and they won't tell me anything. To someone who isn't a lawyer, this seems like a pretty open and shut case to me. He mishandled the investigation, didn't take proper procedures, and it looks like they feel they have enough concern to not allow me back, but aren't contacting the distinct for some reason to look into it further, and won't give me a yes or no answer of whether or not they substantiated the claims. I'd say that's negligent, and they should pay. I've lost a lot of income over this because I can't focus and go very long without another anxiety attack.

The 2nd question. Is it possible to subpoena them into disclosing the identity of who made the false accusation so I can go after the parents for a suit as well?

Most of my case is moral instead of legal, but I want to take every possible step I can for justice.

In addition to the VERY excellent advice you received from Commentator...I strongly suggest you seek psychiatric help...the feeling of persecution you are experiencing from this one incident is out of proportion.

 

[JackM678]

I'm not sure people really understand here. I'm not sure anything i did could have rubbed them the wrong way as it was a short phone call where i just denied it. The truth is that it just seems they're trying to avoid making their jobs more difficult, and that's wrong.

I think the advice here is more personal as opposed to legal, but if it was you, and a school you had a good rapport with others was taken away due to a completely false story that their couldn't prove, what would you do?

I'm still employed with the district, there's no documentation of my performance filed, and I've been working at other schools since. The regulations of the handbook state that in order to remove a substitute from your campus, the administration has to file an evaluation, the substitute has to be notified of the reason by the district, and they are given 10 days to respond. None of this has happened. I theoretically could have just taken a job there, showed up, and told them they didn't get back to me, so I assumed they had nothing.

I want to know what proof they have that I used inappropriate language.

For the kind of comment I was accused of, if any teacher said that, it would be all over the school, other teachers would have heard about it, and the rest of that class period would have had something obviously wrong that the resource teacher in the room would have known about.

Even if I wanted revenge, so what? Isn't it human nature to want to right what's wrong?

As far as suggesting psychiatric help is concerned, seriously? I think you're going way out of topic here. The point is that it can cause mental anguish a false accusation, and the mishandling of it by the school is obvious to me.

 

[JackM678]

Not commenting on the termination issue, but Parental Liability/Responsibility laws do not allow such actions. Mainly it is for property damage and such the Parents may be liable, and only to a certain $$ figure.

I wasn't terminated. I'm still employed, but they are wrong and lacking integrity. They won't tell me what i actually said that was inappropriate.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

If they took no action (that's not what you said in your OP) you have no damages.

If they had fired you, unless you are under contract that says otherwise, they can terminate you at will for nothing at all.

 

[JackM678]

If they took no action (that's not what you said in your OP) you have no damages.

If they had fired you, unless you are under contract that says otherwise, they can terminate you at will for nothing at all.

The damages I'm claiming are more emotional as they mishandled the investigation and didn't follow protocol.

If they have no evidence but just aren't comfortable with me returning, I just want them to say that.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

You aren't going to get squat for that because there are no demonstratable damaged.

As mentioned, they don't have to give you a reason for not bringing you back.

 

[cbg]

If you expect to get a penny for "emotional damages" you damn well better have a stack of counseling bills totaling a significant amount of money that weren't covered by insurance and a couple of psychiatrists or psychologists who are prepared to go into court and swear that you have severe emotional trauma that can be traced directly to this incident and cannot possibly result from any other source. It's just not that easy to get emotional damages, especially where you haven't lost your job or suffered any obvious financial damages.

 

[JackM678]

Then I guess my case is more of a moral than a legal one, in which I had hoped most people would understand that I have a right to feel this way.

Most people would say to let it go, but I want at least someone higher up to understand why this is unfair.

If they are seriously concerned with me working with kids, they are now negligent for not reporting any of their concerns. However, it seems to me they have no concerns, but just don't want the drama of whatever students or parents have it in for me without justification, and I think a good person would step in and say they are going to do what is right over just whatever makes their life easier.

I'm not planning on contacting HR until the school year is almost over as emotions are still too high right now. For an allegation of that magnitude, they didn't investigate according to their policy, and if he handled it wrong, I might settle for having the assistant principal fired if I can't get the resolution I want.

 

[Just Blue]

I'm not sure people really understand here. I'm not sure anything i did could have rubbed them the wrong way as it was a short phone call where i just denied it. The truth is that it just seems they're trying to avoid making their jobs more difficult, and that's wrong.

I think the advice here is more personal as opposed to legal, but if it was you, and a school you had a good rapport with others was taken away due to a completely false story that their couldn't prove, what would you do?

I'm still employed with the district, there's no documentation of my performance filed, and I've been working at other schools since. The regulations of the handbook state that in order to remove a substitute from your campus, the administration has to file an evaluation, the substitute has to be notified of the reason by the district, and they are given 10 days to respond. None of this has happened. I theoretically could have just taken a job there, showed up, and told them they didn't get back to me, so I assumed they had nothing.

I want to know what proof they have that I used inappropriate language.

For the kind of comment I was accused of, if any teacher said that, it would be all over the school, other teachers would have heard about it, and the rest of that class period would have had something obviously wrong that the resource teacher in the room would have known about.

Even if I wanted revenge, so what? Isn't it human nature to want to right what's wrong?

As far as suggesting psychiatric help is concerned, seriously? I think you're going way out of topic here. The point is that it can cause mental anguish a false accusation, and the mishandling of it by the school is obvious to me.

If you were suffering all these effects of the accusation you would need records from a therapist to document the mental anguish.

 

[JackM678]

The problem is, it's my problem, but I can't just let things go. That's why I'm hoping I have somewhat of an action to take that is justifiable as opposed to seeming revenge seeking and threatening, but still evens the score in a way. They have no right to treat me this way and should have to pay somehow.