My former boss is ruining my life!

[Wednezday]

What is the name of your state? Washington

Two co-workers and I formerly worked for a company for 10 - 15 years each. A large part of our jobs involved contractiong consultants for various scopes of work. One of the consultants that we had been using for over 10 years unintentionally insulted the president of the company. The president of the company then decided that he hated this consultant and determined that the consultant must only be getting jobs because they were providing kickbacks to my co-workers and me. This information was relayed to us during a staff meeting one day by our supervisor (a direct report to the president). Obviously, the three of us were completely shocked that after 10 - 15 years of employment someone could say such an outrageous thing. We asked to speak to the president about the matter, but were not allowed to do so. One of my co-workers even offered to open his personal accounts to a private auditor in order to put the issue to rest; his offer was not accepted.

After this accusation, it became harder and harder for me to perform my job. I became depressed and felt as if I had to try to justify everything that I did the extreme in order to cover my a$$ from further scrutiny. Finally, I decided to leave the company. During my exit interview, I made it clear that I was leaving due to the president's accusations and very firmly stated that those accustations were false. Niether my manager or the human resources manager ever denied that the president of the company thought that I was getting kickbacks from my consulants. My two co-workers left within a month of my leaving for the same reason.

I ran into a former co-worker the other day and he told me that it was "widely known" in the work community that my co-workers and I were getting kickbacks. I didn't think too much about it at the time and just laughed it off. Then, last week a competitor of my former employer called and asked me to apply for a job opening at thier company. During my interview today, the interviewer said that he heard that my former co-workers and I had been in collusion with our former consultants and that is why we all left. Not only was I mortified, I found myself struggling to explain the situation. I asked where he had heard this and he told me it was from someone who worked for my city's Port. My company formerly leased property from a Port in another town, but not this one, so I have no idea how the rumor got that far. I don't think that the interviewer believed the rumors and can't blame him for wanting to know the truth. However, I am now really worried that my chances of getting the job are ruined. (I suspect he may have heard the rumor after he contacted me about the job opening, not before.)

My question is, how can I get my former employer to stop spreading comletely false rumors about me? I have been well-respected in my field for many years and now may find myself in a situation where I may not be able to get a job in my field.

In case you are wondering what the "insult" was....the particular consulting firm thew a luncheon for our ENTIRE company in appreciation of thier 100th project with our company. During the luncheon, a speaker from the consulting firm said that his company enjoyed their partnership with our company. The president did not like the word "partnership" and felt that it implied an improper mutually beneficial relationship....the whole thing went down hill from there.


Please help.

Wednezday