Do I have a case for slander???

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sedgley

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Some time ago I was working on behalf of a contractor in a branch of a large financial institution in the south west region. I was working there for a period of 5 days. I was staying in a hotel beside the branch. I went into work every day without a problem, did my bit and went back to the hotel. During this time i had to liaise with some of the employees in the branch, relating to the work I was doing. Namely the porter, tellers and manager.
About 6 months later, out of the blue, I was called into a disciplinary hearing in the company i worked for. Long story short, I was told that the manager, porter and several cashiers has claimed that whilst working there, on several occasions I appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs. I had not drank at all that week and I have never touched a drug in my life. Immediately I remembered that during that week, I had been suffering with really bad hayfever symptoms, red runny eyes and nose etc. It often happens to me when I spend prolonged periods in old buildings with carpeted floors (result of dust and allergens), which this building was covered in. I explained this to HR who at first seemed confident I was guilty. They became lost for words and somewhat apologetic.
The type of person I am, I let it go. It has been playing on my mind a lot recently after it being brought up in conversation. I felt completely humiliated and embarrassed at the time and I did nothing about it, I had not done a thing wrong and yet I nearly lost my job because of the cavalier attitude of these people. This complaint about me was made in around June 2008. Can I act on this matter at this late stage, for my own sanity if nothing else?

Thanks in advance
 
Re: HELP NEEDED! Do I have a case for slander???

sedgley said:
......appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs.
Click to expand...

As you say yourself, you were 'out of sorts' with hayfever. Your company had a hearing before deciding on any action and in the hearing accepted your explanation and were 'apologetic'.

The lesson to learn is that in those situations, you should explain to clients that you have an allergy so that they do not misinterpret it or jump to conclusions. It was annoying for you to deal with but from your post there has been no negative impact on your job. You have had an education on how quickly clients will jump to conclusions and how important communication is, take that knowledge and move on.
 
Re: HELP NEEDED! Do I have a case for slander???

I think the delay in taking action may come against you.

ONQ
 
A quick word of advice about slander and libel: if you are not a rock star or a politician, don't even think about bringing proceedings.

I don't personally understand the need which people have for 'closure' on events like this (perhaps I am lucky not to have had too much trauma in my life)- but it is undeniably the case that there are some people who will continue to be eaten up until they have found some sort of closure on a past trauma or humiliation.

I have seen this so often and I don't have a one size fits all solution. I think the trick here is to find a way to put this behind you.

You might consider that one way to do this would be to ask for an appointment with the Manager of the financial institution; to explain that their presumptions about you were incorrect; to explain that it caused you a lot of upset and trauma at the time and to say that you felt for some time that you should say this to them, so as to save someone else from being similarly unfairly blackened. A problem with this is that - objectively speaking - it may well be the case that their concerns were justified. Perhaps you did present as someone who was under the influence of something. And meetings of this type can too easily turn into a confrontation which makes things worse and leaves even more unresolved anger.

Another - possibly better - route would be to go back to HR and to tell them that the whole episode has played somewhat on your mind. If you don't already have it in writing, tell them that you would greatly appreciate if they would give you a letter confirming that the outcome of their investigation was that there was absolutely no case to answer and that they are fully satisfied that the allegation was unfounded. Stick this letter on your wall and then forget about it.

Anyway - the important thing here is that the only person still affected by this is you; so, the best solution undoubtedly involves changing your own feelings about this episode. Think about it.
 
I left the job about a month later, mainly because of what happened. If I was in my accusers situation, common sense would tell me not to make a formal complaint without being absolutely certain the allegations were true otherwise the possible legal implications of taking someone's character would make me think twice. Not to mention the fact that a person who is possibly completely innocent of any wrongdoing may lose their job. Also the complaint was made 6 months after the incident so they obviously have nothing better to do with their lives.
 
Taking as given that all of what you say is perfectly true, this is undoubtedly very good reason for you to have been deeply annoyed. BUT - continuing to be annoyed is not serving you well.

There is a strategy suggested for people who find themselves worrying about little things - whic is to write down everything that worries you, to set aside 20 minutes once a week and for those 20 minutes, take out your list and worry really hard. Then leave it and don't worry again until next week. Sounds silly - but it works for some people. You may want to try something like this.

TBH I don't know what your solution will be, but you have to ( for your own sake) accept that staying angry will not serve you. You have to find a way to put this behind you. A libel or slander action is most unlikely to be the best way of doing this.
 
I second what MOB has said. Also on a purely legal point of view you don't have a cause of action for defamation...the defense of qualified privilage will cover your employer (assuming the accusations were made in good faith).
 
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