Workplace defamation?

[UnhappyCamper]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

Please offer any advice. A colleague came to talk with me and said she had a 'memo' that was given to her but appears to have been written by me. It was not. It contains insulting (none that was profane however) and derogatory remarks about other colleagues. The intent of the memo was to lead the reader to assume it was written by me to another although it doesn't name me directly - it does contains a specific reference that would lead others to assume it was written by me. The individuals named in the memo were upset by what was written and thankfully one had enough presence of mind to ask me directly if I had written it. As the day progressed, other copies of the memo have circulated through the workplace. As a result I feel as I have to defend myself and prove I did not write this piece of inflammatory garbage. I have the original copy (it is a computer generated memo and not handwritten) and it is clear that it wasn't printed from my workstation as the ink is much lighter than my printer is currently printing.

I genuinely feel my good reputation is being tarnished. The writer of this memo knew enough about office circumstances to put some plausible details in place to make it believable - that makes me think it's someone with whom I work closely. Others who have received copies of the memo will not divulge who provided it to them. I'm unsure if I sure take this situation to my immediate supervisor or just chalk it up to an adult who has forgotten how to act as a professional.

 

[The Occultist]

Do you have a legal question?

 

[Some Random Guy]

Contact your supervisor immediately. Although your coworkers may trust you enough to question its authenticity, upper management may not have a clue as to who you are and may want to discipline you for the memo.

Keep the accusations to a minimum. Just say, "Here is a copy of a memo I was given that purports to be written by me. I did not write it and do not know who did. I don't want a witch hunt to find the author, just that you understand it was not me."

 

[UnhappyCamper]

Thank you Random Guy, good idea and I will add that to my thinking. I do not want my supervisors to think I was involved in this sort of foolishness but I also would like the person who actually wrote the memo to be held accountable. Without a witch hunt, I may never know who it is though. The ugly intent has me terribly bothered...

Occultist... is there legal recourse? We have little in this life but our good reputation and mine has been sterling up until this incident. I am not in the legal field nor am I an advocate of frivolous litigation... But this has been hurtful...

 

[Some Random Guy]

As others on this forum often say, if the person has slandered you and you have actual, demonstrable damages, then feel free to invest $30,000 and three years of your life in suing them - with no guarantee of winning.

But in your case, you will have to first spend a lot of time and energy finding out who said these bad things. Of course, then you have the extra burden of proving that they were really pretending to be you in the memo since they never really said your name.

You will get your reputation back by letting others know that you did not write it. You will gain nothing by getting involved in a long and expensive lawsuit against a phantom.

 

[UnhappyCamper]

Random Guy... you are so right - I can't fight a phantom.

I did talk to my supervisors today and they were stunned and rather speechless. This is a truly telling moment when they are speechless. I felt very supported and was even given some good advice about not letting spineless people 'win.' What I want to happen, believe should happen and what I actually get are very different things. But I will hold my head high and one day, this other person will get their due... It's funny how things come full circle. As long as my supervisors know what happened and I'm right with them then I'll prevail in the end - that may be the best revenge of all. Plus... I don't have 3 years to waste or 30K to spend...

Thanks!!

 

[cbg]

If it helps any, I participate on a board where Human Resources professionals exchange information and can get advice from other HR people about situations they may not have encountered in the past.

Just yesterday, someone posted that they had received an anonymous voice mail accusing an employee of various inappropriate activity, both legal and illegal. She wanted to know what she should do, if anything.

The overwhelming response from the board was that unless she had independent verification that the anonymous information was true, she should disregard it entirely. Sounds like this is what your supervisors are planning to do.

Bottom line; despite what you may think reading the posts on the employment law forums, most employers really do want to be supportive of their employees and are not going to go out of their way to make things hard for them.

The best way to "get" the person who did this is to let him or her see that it did not affect you in the least. Their attempt to hurt you failed.