Legal Question in Employment Law in Maryland

Re: Harassment - Threatening

Maryland is an "at will" employment state. This means that in the absence of a specific agreement to the contrary, either the employer or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time, for no reason, or for any reason--with the exception that the reason cannot be illegal (for example, racial or sexual discrimination).

Since you do not indicate that you have a specific employment contract or agreement, for purposes of this question, I will assume you to be an "at will" employee.

You indicate that you have been "threatened" with "discipline and possible termination for being an informal leader." Your employer is allowed to "discipline" you and/or terminate you if your employer is not satisfied with your job performance. You say you are an "informal leader". I am not sure what you mean by that. However, if you are assuming "leadership" responsibilities contrary to the wishes of your employer, you risk being terminated for that.

Your employer is entitled to relocate you to a different job site in his discretion, again, assuming that it is not for a legally prohibited reason. You do not indicate that you think your employer relocated you for illegal reasons such as your race, sex, age, etc.

You indicate you have been defamed, etc., but provide no details. If you have been defamed and suffered damages, you may have a civil case against the party or parties who are responsible. You need to have a consultation with an attorney, providing more and specific facts, to see if you have a viable defamation case.

You indicate your employer has unfairly characterized you as a "bad" employee. Again, more factual details are needed to determine whether you have a viable defamation case against your employer.

If I may attempt to read between the lines, I would have to speculate that your employer may value your specific job abilities, but that something happened between you and other employees at your original job site, causing your employer to regard your behavior as disruptive to the extent of wanting to transfer you, but not to want to terminate your employment.

The fact that you may also have received superior performance appraisals is obviously relevant to your employer's behavior and justifications.

Since you are still employed at this job, you would be well-advised to be very cautious concerning making any accusations, etc., until you have had an opportunity to have your situation thoroughly reviewed by an attorney.

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