I was recently terminated from my job, as a CNA, on charges of misconduct. Although, I had the right to appeal the terminatio...
Full Question:
I was recently terminated from my job, as a CNA, on charges of misconduct. Although, I had the right to appeal the termination regarding unemployment compensation and it was ruled that I was not guilty of misconduct. I discovered that the Administrator wrote on my termination paper that my co-worker had verified that I had done what they said I had done. It was a degrading statement. The findings of the hearing officer were that I had not even talked to the co-worker. Is this not slander on the Administrator’s part. Also, when I received a copy of everything in my file, I discovered that my last evaluation had been changed to show that my attendance was bad. Do I have any recourse?
05/31/2007 |
Category: Civil Actions » Defamation |
State: Wisconsin |
#6088
Answer:
A form of publication which tends to cause one to lose the esteem of the community is defamation. This is injury to reputation. A person is liable for the defamation of another. In order to prove defamation, the plaintiff must prove: 1) that a statement was made about the plaintiff’s reputation, honesty or integrity that is not true; 2) publication to a third party (i.e., another person hears or reads the statement; and 3) the plaintiff suffers damages as a result of the statement.
Slander is a form of defamation that consists of making false oral statements about a person which would damage that person's reputation. Defamation which occurs by written statements is known as libel. Some statements, while libelous or slanderous, are absolutely privileged in the sense that the statements can be made without fear of a lawsuit for slander. The best example is statements made in a court of law. An untrue statement made about a person in court which damages that person's reputation will generally not cause liability to the speaker as far as slander is concerned. However, if the statement is untrue, the person making it may be liable for criminal perjury. If a communication is made in good faith on a subject in which the party communicating it has a legitimate right or interest in communicating it, this communication may be exempt from slander liability due to a qualified privileged.