Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Company sends employee to illegally scope out my house.

Thank you for your posting.

As mentioned, illegal search and seizure under the 4th amendment applies to government agents only, so because this was done by Best Buy, and not the police, it is not an illegal search and seizure. Also, if you let them in your home, anything in plain view is not a "search", and it doesn't sound as though anything was "seized."

Employment is at will, so unless there is a contractual obligation (i.e., in an employee policy manual) to give notices before a suspension without pay, a suspension or even a termination would not be a violation of the law, necessarily.

To answer your final question, only if the company published false information to outside persons (such as new employers), would there be a case for defamation, libel or slander. Otherwise, if the termination was in bad faith, i.e., as a pretext for discrimination, or not supported by any facts, you may have a case for wrongful termination.

I hope this helps, but feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any further questions or want more information.

Re: Company sends employee to illegally scope out my house.

from the facts given, your friends may have several tortious remedies available to them under the circumstances, however, since best buy is a "private company" and not "a government entity" the 4th/14th amendment regarding illegal governmental searches and seizures would be inapplicable here. however, if you can email me more detailed facts regarding this entire situation, i can further assist your friends legally and/or offer representation for their other tortious claims that may be present against best buy. thanks for the question.

Re: Company sends employee to illegally scope out my house.

You might have a claim here, but I can't be sure without more facts.

This definitely was not an "illegal search and seizure", since that doctrine applies only to government actions and not those of a private entity.

There is also no defamation of character claim that I can see. Defamation involves making a false statement to a third party. Making a false accusation to the person being accused doesn't qualify. The idea is that defamation is damage to a person's reputation, and a reputation isn't damaged unless someone else hears the statements.

This brings me to the person scoping out your house. Was he an invited guest? If he wasn't specifically invited, was he part of a group that had been generally invited (e.g., was everyone at the store told that they would be welcome)? You and your roommates might have a claim for invasion of privacy, but this claim will be weaker if the guy was invited.

I'm not sure why you say there was "no evidence" to support the suspensions; presumably the inventory that this co-worker took supplied the evidence. Besides, there may be other evidence which you don't know about. The suspension may have been unreasonable under the circumstances and your roommates may have causes of action here, but as I said at the beginning there is no way to answer authoritatively without more facts.

Re: Company sends employee to illegally scope out my house.

Question #1: A search and seizure may be unreasonable (and hence potentially "illegal") under the Fourth Amendment only if is was conducted by the government (police, etc.). A search by private investigators or rent-a-cops of any kind may be improper or illegal on other ground, such as trespass or violation of some state law or regulation govering private investigators, but the broad constitutional defenses will not be available here. Under the facts given, the investigation does not, however, even seem to offend the Fourth Amendment, since the investigators were invited and they did not ransack the place, but merely took notes about what was already on display. So, no, it wasn't an unreasonable search and seizure.

Second, what do you mean, "no evidence?" Sounds to me as though there was circumstantial evidence. Maybe not enough to convict, but enough to present at least an arguable cause for suspension. This probably turns more upon the employment contract (written or implied) than upon criminal law, which is, by the way, the category under which this question should have been asked. (I am a business lawyer with a public defender background).

If the accused (or suspected) employee is found innocent, the employer should reinstate the employee. Whether the employee is entitled to damages or back pay will depend upon the employment agreement and a perhaps a determination as to whether the charges were warranted or groundless.

Reporting or investigating a suspected crime in good faith will not support a defamation of character claim even if the defendant is found innocent. Only if the charges are made to persons other than the police or DA, and are false, will there be a possible defamation action.