Is this slander?

[johncyz]

I am a 16 year old male who lost his job at the local grocery store. I have heard from multiple employees that I got fired for stealing alcohol, even though I do not drink and never stole alcohol from the store. Now it is going around the school (i've heard from 4-7 people) that I got fired from the store for stealing alcohol. Is this possible reason for a slander suit? They fired me sometime last summer, and they told me that I was fired for not doing my job, even though I did the job as I was trained to do.

I am in the state of georgia and the grocery store is a major company known under Piggly Wiggly.

 

[The Occultist]

You may call the corporate office and ask for your reason of termination. If you feel that the reason is incorrect, you can show what damages were caused by the false termination and sue them. My guess is you don't have any damages.

 

[johncyz]

ok

I was wondering if damages specified could be mental anguish and loss of money due to termination of employment.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

I am a 16 year old male who lost his job at the local grocery store. I have heard from multiple employees that I got fired for stealing alcohol, even though I do not drink and never stole alcohol from the store. Now it is going around the school (i've heard from 4-7 people) that I got fired from the store for stealing alcohol. Is this possible reason for a slander suit? They fired me sometime last summer, and they told me that I was fired for not doing my job, even though I did the job as I was trained to do.

I am in the state of georgia and the grocery store is a major company known under Piggly Wiggly.

No it is not.

 

[ScottS]

Just for future reference, can this situation ever escalate to being considered slander? how far would that company have to go to actually consider this slander?

 

[Quaere]

You would have to be able to prove that one person told another, that you were stealing from the store. If that allegation is FALSE, you could probably sue someone for defamation. Much depends on exactly what statement was made about you, the context it was made in, etc.

It costs at least $10,000 to bring a suit for defamation. It could cost $100,000 to get the case to trial.

On the other hand, you may want to read Rue v Kmart
Kmart accused a female employee (Rue) of eating a bag of potato chips that she had not paid for, on her break. They fired her. They told the other employees she was fired for stealing. The first defamation trial resulted in a $1, 490,000.00 million dollar award to the plaintiff.

The case had to be retried and in the second trial plaintiff was awarded
$150, 000.00.

Rue's case was easy to prove. One of the supervisors at the store actually called a meeting with Rue's co-workers the night she was fired and announced that she was fired for stealing. Thus there was never any question as to who said what about Rue.