Defamation in the workplace

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My husband and a female employee, both managers of their respective departments, were questioned about allegations of sexual(?) misconduct by another employee.
At the time of the alleged incident, my husband and the female employee were moving boxes and cleaning the area in a dimly lit hallway. They were also complaining to each other that this work was to have been done by "Miss B". They were the only ones in the office at the time.
"Miss A" stated that she walked in and observed them in "close proximity" (not an embrace) and that they "looked surprised and guilty" and separated. Miss A then passed this information on to Miss B, who reported it to her boss. My husband's boss, who questioned my husband, stated that Miss B seems to have added much more serious allegations to the statement, but would not disclose to him what they were. Miss B's boss, without confronting the Miss A, then reported Miss A's allegations to the President of the company. The president of the company directed Miss B's boss to question Miss A directly. Upon doing so, Miss A's less damaging story came to light. The president of the company also directed my husband's boss to question my husband and the involved female manager directly. The company's director of human resources was also made aware of the allegations and advised my husband's boss prior to the questioning.

My husband and the female manager colleague were questioned one after the other. There stories corroborated that nothing improper happened. My husband's boss advised him to "forget about it" and "act like nothing happened." He did give my husband the phone number to the director of human resources "if he needed someone to talk to."

My husband feels that the groundless allegations were damaging to our marriage (of course, he had to tell me!) and damaging to his reputation and a professional and as a manager. He feel's that Miss B's exageration of the allegations and her bosses handling of them were done out of malice or incompetence.

Is this defamation in the workplace? How does my husband restore his good reputation as a manager and professional? How does he refute allegations of misconduct? What is our legal recourse?

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.


Basically, I suggest reading freeadvice.com's section on libel and slander. The first is written defamation. The latter is oral/verbal defamation. Knowingly make a false allegation, without reasonably researching the truth, to another individual about your husband, in his professional capacity or sexual misconduct is possibly considered defamation. It would be defamation if it is damaging to his reputation and made with reckless disregard to truth or falsity, which Miss B seems to have done.

Your husband has to weigh the pros and cons of having all of this resurface. May I suggest that this doesn't mean it should be swept under the rug. But check the section I mentioned and perhaps speak with an employment labor law attorney.

Hope this helps.