Legal Question in Employment Law in New York
employer ethics and wrongful termination
My wife and children were all employed by Wal-Mart. My wife was a customer service manager, and did returns for our children. This was against store policy. However the store further alleged that each and every return was illegal and was theft of what they claimed to be $20,000. They further claimed that my childtren were caught taking merchandise. They coerced my wife and children into signing restitution forms or they would go to jail. They claimed to have paper and video proof, but never called the police, never showed any of this proof,& fired my family for gross misconduct. Now I should also say this store finished an inventory which showed a loss of over a million dollars. In 1 more month my wife would have been a fully vested employee eligible for a monthly retainer. I believe my family was used as a scapegoat for poor loss prevention Practices. When fired the store manager told my wife hew would give her a good recommendation for future employment and my family has not been banned from the store. Does this sound like A manager firing someone for misconduct and theft. Can we get out of paying this restitution and can we sue because my family is now branded as thieves and constantly watched even though never charged
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: employer ethics and wrongful termination
The semantics of the question leave too many ambiguities for a straight forward answer: are "returns" - "tax returns" for example, or something else? How was the coercion accomplished? Word, deed or both? I can imagine, but that does not help you. The restitution forms they signed, are they called "consent to judgment" or something else?
Was your family represented by an attorney at the time this transpired, and did the store recomend they consult with an attorney? Are they union members?
Your wife and children MAY have various types of action to take, both to void the restitution, and to sue the store; the termination for violation of store policy is something she probably will not succed in contesting as far as unemployment goes,
but if she believes she was targeted to avoid paying her pension benefits, and to alleviate pressure on managment because of the inventory shortfall, there are various questions that ought to be investigated. Without knowing more I can not offer advice but would be happy to discuss this with you either by telephone, email or if you wish to make an appointment, in my office.
There are other considerations to keep in mind:
if there are gounds for a discrimination complaint
( age, disabiliy, race, nationality etc) to EEOC or the State Division of Human Rights must be filed within 300 days of the employment action. Has your wife considered reporting this to the police?
A defamation action is a possibility, but if this was kept private within the supervisory structure of walmart, no police, and no "publication" outside of her supervisors, there is a doctrine called the "common interest " privelege which would afford First Amendment protection to the conversations, unless bad faith or malice can be proven.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
