Legal Question in Employment Law in Michigan
should he take them to court?
Hello,
I am writing this letter for my 19 year old son. He has been working at Subway for a few weeks now in a bad atmosphere.
He started closing after his first week there and the money count came up short a few dollars at 4 different occasions. The manager still has him closing but has told at least one other employee that they should not hang around with him because he is a bad influence and a thief. He is taking this very hard and personal.
Of course there might be more to this, but I was wondering if it would be worth him pursuing.
I would think that if a manager thought an employee was a thief they would fire him / her.
He is quitting today because of the stress this has caused.
He has no criminal record.
If this sounds like something you would like to talk about please reply to this e-mail.
Sincerely,
Jim F.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: should he take them to court?
As for a possible defamation case, calling someone a "thief" is known as defamation per se and you do not have to show any special damages. However, proving the case and putting a dollar amount on it is a weakpoint. As for creating a work environment that forces someone to quit that is a grounds for a suit, however, again what are his damages. On a cost benefit analysis viewpoint, it might cost more to pursue a case like this than you would potentially win. So.... tough call.