More details to this question:
I went on an interview while I was currently employed at a salon well being in a small town the my current boss found out I went to the interview (on my day off). The new lady hired me on the spot and the old boss told me to come get my stuff over a text message. Just for going to the interview. She then called the lady I was going to work for and told her that I stole from her and I was on drugs ( all of which were lies) so the lady to me after that she had talked to my old boss that she called and told her those things and was not going to go through with hiring me. After that the old boss called all the salons on the area and told them that if I tried to come get a job there that I am a drug addict and I stole from her. So my question is did she wrongfully fire me and is that slander of my name. I did not list her as a reference she took it upon herself to call the local salon owners and lie to them so that I wouldn't work in the area?
1 ANSWER
She did not wrongfully fire you; absent a contract (e.g. "employee can only be terminated for good cause which is defined as ..." or statute (e.g. employee can't be terminated based on race, religion, gender, etc.) limiting the grounds for termination, you can be fired at any time for any reason.
However, if your employer lied about you and those lies caused the new employer to revoke her hiring of you, and other prospective employers not to hire you, your former employer may have committed the following torts:
(a) slander (slander is oral defamation; libel is written defamation);
(b) tortious interference with contract (your hiring by the second lady);
(c) tortious interference with prospective business relations (employment with the other prospective employers your former boss scared away from hiring you); and
(d) prima facie tort (basically a catchall for malicious actions which cause damage when no other theory will fit - as the other theories do seem to fit, this one probably won't fly).
Answered on Oct 15th, 2013 at 4:47 PM