What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania
Hope someone can help me out here.
I was approached by the store manager of a local store, whom I knew from working with her in a previous job, while I was shopping and she asked me if I would consider being her assistant manager, however, I spent most of my time running a register and not being trained and got so few hours I couldn't survive on the paychecks. I eventually moved on to a higher paying job but left on good terms. I still frequent the store, and was in there one day talking with one of the employees that was hired after I'd left. She relayed to me that one of the assistant managers, whom I'd worked with and had no animosity with as far as I knew, had told her "That's <my name>, he used to work here, he likes really young girls, he's a pedophile.". Now I am closing on 40 and I was interested in a girl that was working there who is 20, but that's hardly jailbait. When I learned of this I was very upset, and since the store manager was there, I took it to her. She basically said, "Well that's <slanderer> for you, She'll say anything." She didn't want to pursue it, saying it was heresay, which it is not since the employee who told me also told her and the whistle blower herself wittnessed the statements being made. I insisted and she said she'd ask the slanderer about it, and when she got back to me said <slanderer> said she never said it, and insists she doesn't even know what that word means. I was not satisfied with that result so I filed a complaint on the webpage for the company in question. The district manager called me about it after some time and apologized that it had happened but didn't accept that some action needed to be taken besides "talking to them". In addition, he dressed down the person that told me about the slander in the first place, saying she had done something wrong.
After further pursuit through the company and having heard the statement was becoming common knowledge in the small town I live in outside Pittsburgh, I insisted that the slanderer needed to be let go since this was apparently becoming the talk of the town, and only something public like a release would make it clear that what she'd done was unacceptable. The district manager then told me that the only person they KNEW had said anything was the whistle blower and he'd have to fire her, that because there was no evidence that the slanderer had done anything other than the whistle blower's testimony he couldn't fire the slanderer herself. I believe this was a tactic designed to get me to drop the matter rather than risk the whistle blower getting fired for standing up and doing the right thing. This really makes me angry, though it doesn't surprise me. Like the bad parent, they don't want justice, they want QUIET. Before I was angry with the slanderer, now I am angry as hell at the company for trying to "shoot the messenger" rather than dealing with the person that caused the problem in the first place.
I have several important questions here, is slander or defamation of character a crime under the pennsylvania code? If so is taking punitive action against someone for reporting said crime not "in furtherance of" said crime and as such "accessory after the fact"? Also given the potential damage in a small town of such a label is a judgement likely and reasonable to pursue? I have a neurological disorder called Asperger's which causes me to have odd body language and avoid eye contact. I have been classified as odd, suspicious, shifty, and other labels most of my adult life due to this which is why I give this such weight. I have been harassed by police and repeatedly investigated because I "look suspicious" for things I had no knowledge of due to this, which is bad enough, but to be labeled a pedophile in my neighborhood when such a label is all the more likely to stick due to my disability is really beyond all limits. The store manager, who approached me about becoming her assistant manager.....told me she actually went online and searched to see if I was a registered sex offender because I wasn't willing to let this blow over.
This is turning into a full scale witch hunt and I don't like being in the crosshairs. I like even less one of the few people in the world that will stand up and do the right thing being in the crosshairs for making me aware of the slander. What can I do?
Hope someone can help me out here.
I was approached by the store manager of a local store, whom I knew from working with her in a previous job, while I was shopping and she asked me if I would consider being her assistant manager, however, I spent most of my time running a register and not being trained and got so few hours I couldn't survive on the paychecks. I eventually moved on to a higher paying job but left on good terms. I still frequent the store, and was in there one day talking with one of the employees that was hired after I'd left. She relayed to me that one of the assistant managers, whom I'd worked with and had no animosity with as far as I knew, had told her "That's <my name>, he used to work here, he likes really young girls, he's a pedophile.". Now I am closing on 40 and I was interested in a girl that was working there who is 20, but that's hardly jailbait. When I learned of this I was very upset, and since the store manager was there, I took it to her. She basically said, "Well that's <slanderer> for you, She'll say anything." She didn't want to pursue it, saying it was heresay, which it is not since the employee who told me also told her and the whistle blower herself wittnessed the statements being made. I insisted and she said she'd ask the slanderer about it, and when she got back to me said <slanderer> said she never said it, and insists she doesn't even know what that word means. I was not satisfied with that result so I filed a complaint on the webpage for the company in question. The district manager called me about it after some time and apologized that it had happened but didn't accept that some action needed to be taken besides "talking to them". In addition, he dressed down the person that told me about the slander in the first place, saying she had done something wrong.
After further pursuit through the company and having heard the statement was becoming common knowledge in the small town I live in outside Pittsburgh, I insisted that the slanderer needed to be let go since this was apparently becoming the talk of the town, and only something public like a release would make it clear that what she'd done was unacceptable. The district manager then told me that the only person they KNEW had said anything was the whistle blower and he'd have to fire her, that because there was no evidence that the slanderer had done anything other than the whistle blower's testimony he couldn't fire the slanderer herself. I believe this was a tactic designed to get me to drop the matter rather than risk the whistle blower getting fired for standing up and doing the right thing. This really makes me angry, though it doesn't surprise me. Like the bad parent, they don't want justice, they want QUIET. Before I was angry with the slanderer, now I am angry as hell at the company for trying to "shoot the messenger" rather than dealing with the person that caused the problem in the first place.
I have several important questions here, is slander or defamation of character a crime under the pennsylvania code? If so is taking punitive action against someone for reporting said crime not "in furtherance of" said crime and as such "accessory after the fact"? Also given the potential damage in a small town of such a label is a judgement likely and reasonable to pursue? I have a neurological disorder called Asperger's which causes me to have odd body language and avoid eye contact. I have been classified as odd, suspicious, shifty, and other labels most of my adult life due to this which is why I give this such weight. I have been harassed by police and repeatedly investigated because I "look suspicious" for things I had no knowledge of due to this, which is bad enough, but to be labeled a pedophile in my neighborhood when such a label is all the more likely to stick due to my disability is really beyond all limits. The store manager, who approached me about becoming her assistant manager.....told me she actually went online and searched to see if I was a registered sex offender because I wasn't willing to let this blow over.
This is turning into a full scale witch hunt and I don't like being in the crosshairs. I like even less one of the few people in the world that will stand up and do the right thing being in the crosshairs for making me aware of the slander. What can I do?