Do i have a possible case

[jgrog76]

What is the name of your state? AZ
I was supposedly laid off due to lack of work, and I have since found out that another employee wrote a 3 page letter of complaint to the management in the company that led to my layoff. I have since found out that it was just an excuse to let me go against there company policies as a result of the information contained in the letter. I do not even work with this employee and this employee is not even at my place of work. None of the issues in the letter were ever discussed with me by anyone but taken at face value by management and I was layed off. Do I have a possible case against this employeee if I can find out what was in this letter or get a copy of it? I have a request in for my complete employee file from the company which I have not recieved yet to find out if it is in there. If it is not can I legally force them to give me a copy of this letter? Also the company in question has a proven legal history of losing, manipulating and changing documents in another court case on a completely different issue within the last year.

 

[Ummonx]

First off I am not a lawyer,

AZ I believe is an employment at will state, meaning a you or the company can terminate employment at any time. You would have a very hard time proving that they terminated you because of that letter. If you do get the letter the only person I think you could sue is the writer if what he wrote were untrue and not opinion. (I THINK so and so is stealing vs I saw so and so stealing on this on this date). In addition you would have to prove that you lost your job because of the letter, which you will probably not be able to do.

If I am wrong about this, any of the lawyers please feel free to correct me.

 

[cbg]

You do not have a case against your employer.

In an at-will state (which is every state except Montana, and even includes Montana in some circumstances) you can quit at any time and for any reason, and your employer can fire you at any time and for any reason not prohibited by law. If they believe the information in the letter, they are free to let you go even if they are mistaken in their belief.

You MAY have a case against the employee who wrote the letter; however, the burden of proof will be on you to prove both that the information in the letter is FALSE (not a difference of opinion, not a genuine misunderstanding of the facts, not a different point of view, but FALSE) AND that without this letter you would not have been laid off.

BTW, nothing in Federal or Arizona law requires your employer to provide you with a copy of your employment file, or even to see it if they don't want to. It's entirely up to the company whether to permit it or not. Barring a subpoena, I don't know of any way you can force them to give you a copy of the letter.

What they may have done with other documents in an unrelated case is not relevant to whether they must give you a copy of this document or not.

 

[dnjkincaid]

I think that you might be able to go to your local magistrate and file a cival suite against the person that wrote that letter. I am going through something right now, and I am affraid that I will lose my job. I don't know about the state where you are from but here in WV. I know that you can go to the magistrate and do that. If you can prove it, you might me intitled to punitative damages. I hope everything works out!