Is this discrimination or defamation?

C

Cobb33

New Member
Jurisdiction
Missouri
So at work I got into a small argument with someone that staffs our cafeteria. The cafeteria worker filed complaint on me first in which she painted me as the bad guy. In reality I was the victim of her rudeness and was going to complain about her but she beat me to it. Strange or unfair thing is that management banned me from the cafeteria without ever asking me my side of the story. I wanted to settle the grievance with HR but my manager won't let me. I wanted to alert the manager of the cafeteria about the rudeness of one of their workers but my manager also won't allow me. What makes this even worse is that we are not allowed to leave building for lunch which is why being banned from cafeteria is a huge inconvenience. I believe the cafeteria worker was rude bc I'm gay But of course I have no proof.
 
If you have no proof it is not worth bringing up. It will look worse for you to make accusations you can not support.

Nothing in what you provided here indicates you have any legal issue regarding defamation or discrimination.
 
I suspect the ban is so that you can't retaliate against her due to her complaint. I'm not seeing where they needed to ask your side, especially since you admit to being part of a "small argument", right? There's never a reason to get into a "small argument" (which I suspect was witnessed by others)

You should have just complained rather than arguing with her in public. Depending on your gender, size and demeanor, it is possible she felt threatened.

In the end you have another choice....brown bag it....it's what most of us do that don't have access to a cafeteria at all.
 
On the basis of what you have posted, it is neither defamation nor illegal discrimination. If you have additional facts that you believe would change that answer, it is up to you to post them.
 
Ditto to what the others have said. You got into an argument with an employee rather than doing the professional thing and reporting the rudeness if there was any. The employer is understandably concerned you will retaliate against this person and has banned you from the one space where that person works.

Its isn't defamation to tell the employer what you actually did do. It is also not discrimination for her to report an employee who argued with her or for your employer to ban you from the cafeteria after arguing with her. You can speculate there might have been a different outcome if you had "tattled" first, but in truth, you can never know that. They might well have decided your arguing was still uncalled for and acted the exact same way, even if you self-reported the incident.
 
The answer to the question in the subject header of your post is no.

Seems to me you either find a way to resolve the issue and the cafeteria ban or you start packing your lunch or you find a new job.
 

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