QUESTION
do my employees have a right to sue just 1 llc member for defamation
Asked on Jun 30th, 2014 on Business Law - Missouri
More details to this question:
i am a member of a llc with my dad and brother in a family restaurant. my brother and dad are managing partners, I am a silent partner. My brother is abusing his authority by calling employees, cunt, bitch, slut, dumb, etc. He is basically a bully. My father doesn't want to fire him because he is family, but I need to know if the employees could sue him personally for defamation. I don't want the employees to quit, they are like family. I don't want to hurt my brother, but he needs to know there is consequences for his actions. I know there is the right to work law. So I don't know if there is a case. Thanks for any help.
1 ANSWER
An llc member could be sued individually for defamation, as could the llc if the member defames someone in the course of his duties for the llc. What you have described is not defamatory, however, as none of it is a statement of fact, but rather they are statements of opinion. However, some of them could give rise to employment law claims, such as sexual harassment. While I don't believe that the federal employment law statutes provide for individual liability, some state statutes do; I don't know if this is the case in Missouri.
Answered on Jun 30th, 2014 at 12:28 PM