What should be done?

[hayden]

I work for a Fortune 500 company as an Operations Manager. On May 27, 2003, a note was distributed in vehicles, breakrooms, bathrooms, etc.. which said the following:
"Attention All Females. (my name) curses out women. Ask (employee name) and (employee name) Racist and Sexist."

The only action taken was a meeting with myself, both employees, and the station employees stating an investigation would take place and the responsible person(s) would be terminated or receive disciplinary action. Nothing was done and I was threatened with written disciplinary action.

There was 3 employees who were thought to have did this, however especially 1 in particular. No meeting or communication took place. My supervisor, human resources person, and their boss did nothing to investigate. Can those person involved and company be held liable for defamation of character? What can be done legally?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Originally posted by hayden:
I work for a Fortune 500 company as an Operations Manager. On May 27, 2003, a note was distributed in vehicles, breakrooms, bathrooms, etc.. which said the following:
"Attention All Females. (my name) curses out women. Ask (employee name) and (employee name) Racist and Sexist."

The only action taken was a meeting with myself, both employees, and the station employees stating an investigation would take place and the responsible person(s) would be terminated or receive disciplinary action. Nothing was done and I was threatened with written disciplinary action.

There was 3 employees who were thought to have did this, however especially 1 in particular. No meeting or communication took place. My supervisor, human resources person, and their boss did nothing to investigate. Can those person involved and company be held liable for defamation of character? What can be done legally?

I'm not sure exactly what happened here and just how much damage you believe was caused -- how many copies of this note do you know existed? You make it sound like dozens -- was it? Or was it just 2 or 3? How many people potentially saw the notes?

There are usually two sides to a story but I have worked on cases dealing with employee discrimination and ludicrously bad HR departments that have violated rights and policies on a regular basis. There is likely a corporate handbook which should have spelled out specific guidelines as to what should have been the process. I really don't know enough to say more.

The real issue is whether the damage here is more that you are mad at what happened than being actually damaged with regard to your reputation at work. If there is little actual damage (except to ego) then then perhaps filing a formal complaint with HR and a demand that they do an investigation might be appropriate. Do they have videotape surveillance? There are preservation issues if this is the case.