Wrongful termination, slander and defamation of character

Status
Not open for further replies.

apausa

New Member
My jurisdiction is: California

I was 63 years old, a licensed architect who was hired on 4/1/2008 but terminated in February 2009. I was hired as a Principal Architect (PA) but agreed to also performing as a Project Manager (PM) concurrently to easy the PM shortage at the time. The company has about 50 employees and my group consisted of 5, all women PMs except me, one woman might be as old as if not older than I was. I signed an "at will" employment contract.

Last September the Manager asked me to sign and agreed to a Transition Plan (TP), which outlined the steps for transitioning me back to be the PA, the position which I was hired. The TP stipulated that I must complete all my current projects as a PM successfully prior to the change. The TP further mandated that I'd spent at least 50% of my time performing Quality Assurance for "all" Design and Engineering projects . Below were steps taken by the manager which led to the termination:

1. Age and Gender Discrimination - After the TP was signed and three months later, the management begun taking away and reassigning my projects to the younger women PMs until I ran out of projects in January and I was forced to agree to work part time starting February as needed. Breach of Contract -So, they made it impossible to complete all my current projects let alone performing the Quality Assurance works. Racial discrimination? I'm an Asian (Chinese) but the one who took over my place was a younger Pilipino woman who was the youngest probably 30 years younger than I was and least qualified. Gender Discrimination- I suspect that she was also directed to withhold projects from me for design guidance and review.

2. Good Faith and Fair Dealing- Since management took away all my projects, forced me to work part time, I came once in early February and again a week later. Hostile working environment and Harassment- When I showed up the second time, I found my cubicle had been cleaned up and all my stuff piled on top of a reference table next to the aisle. The Pilipino woman had moved into my office. So in a way I had been thrown out physically. Hostile working environment and Harassment - I had to borrow a coworker's reference table in order to complete my tasks. The reference table had no task light, no intranet connections, neither Ethernet ports nor wireless for my laptop so it was very difficult to complete my tasks, but I did. I expected to return in a week or two for the remaining works. I e-mailed the manager and complained the unacceptable working environment but received no response.

3. Wrongful Termination which was based on continued Slander and Defamation of Character- The manager called me at home the following week on 2/26 and terminated my employment. He told me that according to employee M who did not think my work would work. He refused my request for a meeting with employee M for clarifications except to say "I don't think I owe you an explanation". This was not the first time that employee M slandered and smeared my professional character- In January, at least two employees told me that employee M openly slandered my professional character. I reported her behavior to the manager by e-mail but received no response except the retaliation by termination. Employee M, a younger woman who had the most seniority in the group; a layperson, having nether license nor any credential in engineering and technical fields. She never liked me since I'd have to review, critique, approve and stamp her projects. In January, the manager reassigned all my projects to her, except the design portions so I would still have to work with her. Despite the designs were still being done, she ganged up with the manager and had me fired in malice and retaliation for reporting her.

Reverse Sexual Orientation Discrimination?: Employee M was an open and proud gay lesbian so could the assumption be made that she disliked straight men and she would do anything to slander and smear a man's, the only man in the group, professional character?

Some people advised me to file complaints with California Department of Fair Employment and Housing or EEOC, have them conduct investigations and get a Right to Sue letter then find a lawyer.
Please advise, thanks.
 
Talk to a lawyer to see if you should file with an agency first.
 
He refused my request for a meeting with employee M for clarifications except to say "I don't think I owe you an explanation".
Being an "At Will" employee, the employer does not need to provide an explanation.

Your references to descrimination, defamation, slander, harrassment, malice, hostile environment, etc. only provided conjectural opinion. What real evidence do you have that is of legal worth? For example, defamation must show that you were damaged due to an untruth that was intentionally used to harm you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top