Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania

Defamation of Character by Consulting Firm

My employer, a small Catholic university, invited the IT consulting wing of a larger university to review the operations of our IT department and make recommendations for improvement. This university has done similar evaluations in other small colleges and has been responsible for having many of the IT employees in these schools fired and so they could take over. I just saw the evaluative report and feel that the person who spoke with me has written untrue statements about my credentials and ability to do my job. As I am aware of this university's history of takeovers, I think that the person who spoke with me has ulterior motives, and is deliberately trying to defame my character. For example, she said I am not qualified to help professors with designing online courses when she never asked me about my experience in this area or looked at any of the online courses I had already developed for our instructors. Do I have legal recourse if I my employment is terminated? If I am not fired, can I still seek compensation for libel? If I am not terminated, I plan on leaving the organization.


Asked on 5/13/06, 8:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Traversa Arjont Group (Law Office of Roger Traversa)

Re: Defamation of Character by Consulting Firm

You may have a valid claim. There would be at least two theories you could proceed under based on the information you have provided. The first being tortious interference with a contractual relationship. The elements to prove this would be that you had an ongoing business relationship, that the defendant interfered with that relationship, that the defendent used any improper means to condcut such interference and that the relationship was harmed.

The other claim would be a defamation claim and that would be based on the publication of infamous material that the speaker either knew or should have known to be false.

In either case we would need to show actual damages. So leaving or even the appearance of job searching before you leave may tend to limit damages.

If anything comes to pass please call or write me and we can discuss your options in a less theoretical manner.

Regards,

Reoger Traversa

email: [email protected]

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Answered on 5/14/06, 10:59 am


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