Slander against me and my unemployment

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Four years ago today I was asked to speak with managers at Wal-Mart, one of the two employers I worked for at the time. I thought that the meeting was about the complaint I reported about some of my coworkers bullying me and causing extra work for me specifically, and as such when they asked "do you know why you're here" I told them as much. However, they started asking leading questions about guns and explosives and such of that sort. They had been given false reports about me and since these management material type were just policy mongers and nothing more, they fired me for a "violent act". People, who I assumed at the time were the coworkers who had been bullying me, had slandered me and I got punished for their words. This is just plain not right. Slander is wrong, whether it is against an individual or an entire nation.

it sounds absolutely infuriating.
i agree that it is wrong on all levels, unfortunately that wont change how people behave.

Does America have labour complaint boards or Human Rights Commissons where that could be brought up?

Not that I know of. There is the Better Business Bureau, but as far as I know they don't do much. There are legal channels, however going to court means spending a whole lot of money as an individual against a corporation which is currently thriving in this lousy economy.

Sorry to hear that 'keet... I was going to ask you the same thing as M_P. I wouldn't have let that slide.

From the title of your topic, it sounds like it is an issue with getting another job. Is this the case?

Were you diagnosed at the time, you were slandered at work? If so, you did have some rights under the ADA. You filed a complaint for being bullied, so it is obvious that it could have been retribution from those employees to protect themselves, if they thought you were filing a complaint against them. Did Walmart even listen to your side of the story? Did they know that you were diagnosed with Aspergers, if you were at the time?

Fighting it to stay there might not have been worth it, but getting fired for a violent act on your work record is a serious matter, that deserved further action, if you were in a position to take it. With the assistance of the ADA, it sounds like you had a pretty good case.

I'm not sure there is anything you can do about it now, four years later; but I am sorry to hear this happened to you.

Bringing a wrongful dismissal action is one of the areas of the law where there are a large number of per se litigants, and where courts will exercise significant efforts to ensure that such a litigant is not ambushed by the defendant. It is a pity that you allowed yourself to be dissuaded from this action, as it only serves to reinforce the ongoing abusive practices exercised by employers in non-unionized workplaces.

I hope you now know that the correct answer to the question, "do you know why you are here," is never a simple, "yes."

I prefer the, "I have an idea, which may or may not correct, so to make sure we're on the same page I much prefer you tell me."

I am sorry you've been victimized by bullies.

Last edited by DW_a_mom on 20 Apr 2011, 3:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome since 2004, however as far as I know Asperger's isn't, or at least wasn't then, considered a disability via the ADA. As far as I know they weren't getting any benefits from it, although I had mentioned my diasnosis and brought the report with me when I had been hired it was just brushed aside and ignored. I don't think that they had any paperwork in their system about my diagnosis since those that hired me didn't care. The people who hired me were not the same ones as the people who fired me either, so if they didn't have paperwork cataloged then it wouldn't have mattered since those who fired me would have been in ignorance of the detail of my diagnosis.

No, Wal-Mart's new general manager and the others there had brought me there merely for gathering any additional data they could coax out of me. Having thought the meeting was about my complaint of bullying I was providing them the information pertaining to that, however they apparently had for their meeting agenda my firing for the false accusations against me and as such the information I gave them was twisted into fit with their agenda. They had their minds made up ahead of time and anything I said in my defense after I figured out what they were implying about me was treated as though it were a lie. I have no doubt that they preemptively assumed any side of my story presented would be false since they had already made their decision before speaking to me.

How long ago was it? Have you been looking at your legal avenues? It sounds like you probably have a good case.

The Better Business Bureau doesn't deal with employee complaints of businesses, they are there for the protection of customers and recommending businesses that treat their customers well.

If you are on the Spectrum you actually may have grounds for a discrimination lawsuit and/or wrongful termination lawsuit. Organizations like the ACLU would be more than willing to take a case like yours (would be good for them to actually deal with a legitimate case, instead of their usual junk lawsuits).



Being union or nonunion has nothing to do with this, the fact he was fired under false pretenses is the situation. Now he may not win a case against the business itself, because the employer was arguably acting on good conscious and potentially customer safety, not out of discrimination. That said, it would be grounds for the firing of the employees that set him up, him getting a job offer to come back, and he would have grounds for suing the individuals that set him up.

It was four years ago. I've not contacted a lawyer because I've never had enough money to commit to the legal battles necessary yet. Hopefully the economy may improve in a few more years and I will hopefully find an employer which both will and can hire me then, and then I may be able to save up the money necessary to take Wal-Mart to court.

I agree with Inuyasha on most of this. Sensibly detailed.

Lol, he's been waiting for me to say that sometime somewhere

You don't have to have the money to sue, because there are organizations that will take your case for free especially since ACLU if I remember correct has an ax to grind when it comes to Wal Mart.

Even beyond something like the ACLU, most lawyers will do free consultations and normally if you sue for a monetary amount, they include their fees into that amount (after all, the employer's wrongdoing is what caused you to have to retain a lawyer so the costs are on them if your guy wins). Never be afraid to see a lawyer; there's plenty of them.

It certainly wouldn't hurt for him to ask. I agree they are worth at least approaching, but I don't know that they have any particular axes to grind (nor do I know they don't, just saying). Southern Poverty Law Center is another that might be looking at bullying cases, athough I think they are focused on much broader discrimination patterns than your case seems to show. Still, can't hurt to ask.

Last edited by DW_a_mom on 20 Apr 2011, 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.