Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

Re: False Accusation

Depending on whether you are willing to sue this employee for a potentially uncollectible judgment, you have the option of suing him for slander.

However, slanderous allegations are part of nearly every employment dispute. In your scenario, you should know two things:

1) The co-employee has accused you of a crime, which constitutes slander "per se," as opposed to slander "per quod."

Slander per se presumes damages; you do not have to prove "special damages" in order to succeed.

2) However, there is a "common interest privilege" recognized by the law; when employees and employers have a dispute, speech in that context is covered by this privelege if it is of "common interest" in the dispute. This privilege would be a defense.

To defeat the common interest privilege as a defense to a slander action, one must prove malice. That amounts to proving that the other employee knew with a high probability, that the accusation he made agasinst you was false.

3) As to the eventual outcome, if you win, you will have to enforce it agaist the individual's assets. It does not sound as though he was speaking on behalf of your employer.

These types of lawsuits can be costly, and without additional information I cannot begin to assess your chances. I do handle slander cases and would be happy to follow up with you.

Re: False Accusation

If your manager has sent you an e-mail praising your performance it is evident that yuor reputation has not been damaged by this rep's aggressive action. While it may be actionable that the rep has called you a thief, starting a lawsuit will served to dredge up the incident again, perhaps put you under speculation, perhaps have your manage sense that you are soft to criticism. Your best bet is to just do the best job you can and beat this rep competitively. Maybe in a moment where you can pick your spot you can ask the manager what he sees in this other rep but absent beating him in the marketpalce your practical options are limited.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can call my office to schedule an appointment for a consultation or in the alternative, I can be reached for on-phone low-cost legal consultation at 1-800-275-5336 x0233699.