Slander

Lmill0312

New Member
Jurisdiction
Kentucky
I was a longtime shopper at my local area Kroger. I spent quite a lot of money there and was also an extreme couponer. My daughter was an employee there as well. She went shopping with me when I made purchases and many times I used so many coupons that I got many items for free. One day she got to work and loss prevention called her back to the office and 2 of her union reps interrogated her accusing me of using fraudulent coupons (which I absolutely did not do and one of her supervisors even defended me and said that was another customer who did that) but they questioned my daughter about why I used coupons and what I did with all of the items I purchased and why she went shopping with me. They told her she had 2 choices: to either resign or be suspended while they further investigate and ordered her to pay restitution for the items I obtained for free with my legitimate coupons. She is only 19 and was scared to death and thought that they were going to bring criminal charges on her with the accusations of coupon fraud and had no idea what restitution even meant so she resigned. Since then she has had some of her friends who still work there tell her that all of the management and other employees are spreading rumors saying that we committed fraud and that she was fired and they also told her that she and I have been banned from all Kroger's for life. I follow a Facebook page where hundred of other couponers do the exact same things I was doing: clip coupons and get items for free or close to free. We are doing nothing illegal. My daughter was off the clock and her shopping with me had absolutely nothing to do with her work duties. I feel that they forced her to resign under duress and are now slandering her and she called and asked a manager if she could use them as a reference for a new job and they said that they would not be able to do so under the circumstances. I feel that they are treating her very unfairly and if another prospective employer calls Kroger for a reference check they will lie about her resignation and say she committed coupon fraud when she had nothing to do with my shopping transactions and even I didn't commit fraud. I decided to shop at another Kroger in another city since I was never officially told I was banned from Kroger and I was at the checkout and three associates called loss prevention and security on me while shopping with my 5 year old son. My 18 year old son went shopping in Kroger on another separate occasion just days after my daughter was forced to resign and the manager recognized him as well and stared him down and followed him out the store as if she was afraid he was going to steal something. Our entire family is being discriminated against or harassed and for absolutely no reason. Hundreds of other people use coupons and get items for free at Kroger's all over the country and nothing is being done to them so how can Kroger single my family out and how can they force my daughter to resign when this issue was not even work related? They have been looking for a reason to get rid of her ever since she told the manager that she has mental health issues (depression) and has been seeing a therapist about it. Once she told the manager, in confidentially ,the rumors began the very next day. Everyone in the store began saying that she was missing work because she was "sad" and they began cutting her hours as a means of punishing her. She has been a very hard, courteous worker and has put up with a lot of harsh words from managers and coworkers over the past few months. There was one instance, a couple of months ago, where she rang me up and was reprimanded and scolded and threatened to be fired if she let it happen again because that is against company policy to ring up family members. She told management that she was not aware of that policy and made a promise to never do it again. Less than a week later, she saw several other employees ring up their family members in front of the very same managers that scolded her for doing the same thing. She was clearly treated unfairly at that job and for her to be forced to resign and threatened to be charged with restitution charges over valid purchases her mother made makes absolutely no sense to me. I have receipts for every purchase I made. I stole not one single thing I purchased from there. I also have copies of every receipt I used. They went as far back as 3 weeks of video footage of me questioning every purchase I made and every return I made but do not do that to all of these other customers who do the exact same thing that I do. I was wondering if we possibly have a case as far as her being forced to resign since she is being accused of something she didn't even do and it wasn't even work related and if there's a case since Kroger is slandering us by spreading rumors and trying to ban us from shopping at their stores when we are doing nothing any different than the hundreds of other shoppers are doing who are using legitimate manufacturers coupons. I have copies of all of my receipts, coupons, and sales ads as well as the Facebook page I follow which shows the other people who are getting the exact same deals I was getting. Thanks for your time.

I was a longtime shopper at my local area Kroger. I spent quite a lot of money there and was also an extreme couponer. My daughter was an employee there as well. She went shopping with me when I made purchases and many times I used so many coupons that I got many items for free. One day she got to work and loss prevention called her back to the office and 2 of her union reps interrogated her accusing me of using fraudulent coupons (which I absolutely did not do and one of her supervisors even defended me and said that was another customer who did that) but they questioned my daughter about why I used coupons and what I did with all of the items I purchased and why she went shopping with me. They told her she had 2 choices: to either resign or be suspended while they further investigate and ordered her to pay restitution for the items I obtained for free with my legitimate coupons. She is only 19 and was scared to death and thought that they were going to bring criminal charges on her with the accusations of coupon fraud and had no idea what restitution even meant so she resigned. Since then she has had some of her friends who still work there tell her that all of the management and other employees are spreading rumors saying that we committed fraud and that she was fired and they also told her that she and I have been banned from all Kroger's for life. I follow a Facebook page where hundred of other couponers do the exact same things I was doing: clip coupons and get items for free or close to free. We are doing nothing illegal. My daughter was off the clock and her shopping with me had absolutely nothing to do with her work duties. I feel that they forced her to resign under duress and are now slandering her and she called and asked a manager if she could use them as a reference for a new job and they said that they would not be able to do so under the circumstances. I feel that they are treating her very unfairly and if another prospective employer calls Kroger for a reference check they will lie about her resignation and say she committed coupon fraud when she had nothing to do with my shopping transactions and even I didn't commit fraud. I decided to shop at another Kroger in another city since I was never officially told I was banned from Kroger and I was at the checkout and three associates called loss prevention and security on me while shopping with my 5 year old son. My 18 year old son went shopping in Kroger on another separate occasion just days after my daughter was forced to resign and the manager recognized him as well and stared him down and followed him out the store as if she was afraid he was going to steal something. Our entire family is being discriminated against or harassed and for absolutely no reason. Hundreds of other people use coupons and get items for free at Kroger's all over the country and nothing is being done to them so how can Kroger single my family out and how can they force my daughter to resign when this issue was not even work related? They have been looking for a reason to get rid of her ever since she told the manager that she has mental health issues (depression) and has been seeing a therapist about it. Once she told the manager, in confidentially ,the rumors began the very next day. Everyone in the store began saying that she was missing work because she was "sad" and they began cutting her hours as a means of punishing her. She has been a very hard, courteous worker and has put up with a lot of harsh words from managers and coworkers over the past few months. There was one instance, a couple of months ago, where she rang me up and was reprimanded and scolded and threatened to be fired if she let it happen again because that is against company policy to ring up family members. She told management that she was not aware of that policy and made a promise to never do it again. Less than a week later, she saw several other employees ring up their family members in front of the very same managers that scolded her for doing the same thing. She was clearly treated unfairly at that job and for her to be forced to resign and threatened to be charged with restitution charges over valid purchases her mother made makes absolutely no sense to me. I have receipts for every purchase I made. I stole not one single thing I purchased from there. I also have copies of every receipt I used. They went as far back as 3 weeks of video footage of me questioning every purchase I made and every return I made but do not do that to all of these other customers who do the exact same thing that I do. I was wondering if we possibly have a case as far as her being forced to resign since she is being accused of something she didn't even do and it wasn't even work related and if there's a case since Kroger is slandering us by spreading rumors and trying to ban us from shopping at their stores when we are doing nothing any different than the hundreds of other shoppers are doing who are using legitimate manufacturers coupons. I have copies of all of my receipts, coupons, and sales ads as well as the Facebook page I follow which shows the other people who are getting the exact same deals I was getting. Thanks for your time.
 
The best thing you and she can do is let it go, look forward, not backward.

No one has been slandered.

Neither of you have an actionable cause for which there is a remedy under law.
 
I didn't even make it through your whole posting....but from an employer side, it is definitely work related and it could be considered that there was a conflict of interest between your daughter's employment and your extreme couponing at the same store she worked at. Often times this is covered in orientation and in the employee policies that they not benefit more than any other shopper. At some point, she lost credibility due to your extreme couponing. While you may have been playing by the rules and the same ones as other people, it might be healthy to look at it from another perspective especially since this was your daughter's employer. In the end your actions reflected back on her because they specifically happened in her workplace.

That alone along with "at will" give the employer every right to terminate her and ask that you and your family no longer shop at Kroger. In the end they are a for profit business that doesn't like shoppers gaming extreme coupon situations just because they can. And honestly I am surprised they haven't reined in the coupon policies even further due to gamers.
 
As a Retail theft Consultant and Loss Prevention Professional there could be several reasons why this was done. However since she already resigned I am not sure this is even an issue any longer. The fact that they were ok with her resigning and no further action leads me to believe it wasnt a very strong case
 
Most of what you wrote here has no relevance to the question you asked. Much of what you provided seems to be based on rumor.
None of it amounts to anything slanderous, and even if it was you would probably have great difficulty proving any damages.
This is not worth pursuing. Take your business elsewhere.
Your daughter is young and will not have much trouble landing a new job.
 
As others have said, nothing you describe is illegal. "Couponing" isn't protected by any laws. If her employer reasonably suspected she and or you with her knowledge were gaming the system, they may legally share that with a future reference request. Had she not quit and let them complete their investigation, and had that investigation showed that you/she really hadn't broken any rules, then that answer would be different. Being accused and quitting before an investigation could be done just makes you ALL look guilty. That information can also be legally shared with area stores, and frequently is as those who are up to no good, do generally move on to a different target once confronted. You might not be guilty, but your behavior is that of a guilty person. The store has the right to act on that belief.
 
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