QUESTION
If a former employer is telling people I stole something before I left my employment, do I have a slander suit?
Asked on Mar 08th, 2018 on Litigation - South Carolina
More details to this question:
A former employer is telling his current employees that I stole a kayak before I ended my employment there. I left on my own terms and have another job that I enjoy now. My concern is that he is well known in our industry and him saying this could prevent me from getting a job in the future. Honestly I want him to just stop spreading this lie. It hasn't impacted me yet but I'm extremely worried it will come back to haunt me down the road.
1 ANSWER
Assuming that this statement is false, and your former employer knew or should have known that it was false when he made it, yes. The type of defamation you are talking about impugns your reputation in your employment and therefore in most states (I don't know about South Carolina) would be actionable as slander per se even absent any damages. Even if South Carolina requires you to prove damages on such a claim, you would still have a suit to enjoin your former boss from making the statement in the future, and may be able to get the court to order that he admit that the statement was false to the people he said it to.
Answered on Mar 09th, 2018 at 10:26 AM