Fired!

hearingimpared

madmax wrote:

Don't expect it to happen overnight. I've watched others and it seems to take a good 5 to 7 years of full time attention to become comfortable and a couple more years to become really profitable.

Good luck!
madmax

Typically the first 3 to 5 years the business is in the red, however the business is in the red not the salary you draw from the business. If you work it right, you can make a nice salary without really shoving the business into a deeper debt. This is my expericence with an audio business I had several years ago. Make sure you have a good business man as an adviser or partner. I was good with the technical end of the business but knew squat about actually running the business so I kept my brother who graduated from Drexel (one of his majors was business administration) on a small salary as an advisor.

There are very many small business associations nation wide as well as federal agencies that will help you start and maintain your business.

Best of luck,
Joe

BaggedLancer

Well i hate to bring this back up. Today I received a call from one of my employees saying that my boss disclosed my personal company record in a meeting and showed everyone what I was fired for, despite having no proof and that the entire situation is heresay. After asking a few friends, they said I should pursue it legally to get my name cleared and sue him for ruining my reputation and character.

Do you guys thing I should pursue it legally or just let it drop and go away and never use that job as a reference, not that I would anyway?

bobman1235

What are you really looking to gain by suing? I seriously doubt it's worth your time, or the money you'd spend on a lawyer, especially if you dont' (and you most likely won't) win.

Demiurge

I'm with Bobman. You're young too, and need to learn to take your lumps and move on.

You have no legal grounds to sue anyhow. Your boss can tell everyone there why you were fired if he wants to.

BaggedLancer

bobman1235 wrote:

What are you really looking to gain by suing? I seriously doubt it's worth your time, or the money you'd spend on a lawyer, especially if you dont' (and you most likely won't) win.

The only thing im looking to gain is get my name cleared for something I did not do and can PROVE that I did not do.

brettw22

I'd say if you want to teach him a lesson and have a case, then do it. Contrary to what some believe, businesses don't have a free ride to do whatever they want to their employees (current or past).

Also, some companies have a policy against willingly being a participant in a case against the company, but a subpoena would obligate them to testify on what they heard.

Worst case, get a lawyer working on a contingency, and if you win you win, if you don't, they get nothing, but at least the manager will know he can't slander people just for the sake of justifying their actions.

jdhdiggs

Just think about it. Can he justify any of what he said about you? If so, you've already lost. Now you were fired and tried to sue your employer. Talk about a double whammy... Walk away unless it is a slam dunk case.

Besides, what's worse to a new potential employer, that you were fired or that you sued the old company...?

Demiurge

BaggedLancer wrote:

The only thing im looking to gain is get my name cleared for something I did not do and can PROVE that I did not do.

You're talking like you're a public figure. By and large nobody gives a rats **** what your old employer did to smear your good name by "telling employees why you got fired." This is why I mentioned your age. I'm sure you've been getting told how important you and your feelings are since you started school. I'm sure you're a good guy, but by and large nobody cares. I'd be happy it wasn't worse than what you're saying it is.. Making a stink is only going to make potential future employers weary of hiring you knowing that you like to make mountains out of mole hills -- a liability so to speak.

Based on your first post in this thread you smeared the companies name by telling people not to work there. What's the difference? Should he be able to sue you for hurting his feelings and the good name of his business? :rolleyes: It's not slander, dude.

PolkThug

If lies are spoken about you within earshot of others, it is slander.

Demiurge

Hey, Mr. Contradiction is back, what a surprise.

He was fired. Why he was fired is in the mind of the business owner. Whatever the business owner says can't be disproved by anyone because he can say whatever he wants to. Therefore, stating the reasons he was fired can't possibly be slander. It's not hard to figure out.

Why he fired him also can't possibly be construed as a lie. If the business owner fired him for illegal reasons then there would be a case, and slander woudn't be the avenue to pursue. In any event, 1-800-BUY-JUNK.COM probably isn't a great resume enchancer anyways. Give it up, and have fun with your time off.

BaggedLancer

Demiurge wrote:

Give it up, and have fun with your time off.

No time off is truly fun in my eyes. I have bills to pay and massive college tuition to pay.

brettw22

Demi, when a company fabricates a reason as to the firing of an employee, and then opens an employees file to everyone currently working there and pushes that lie as fact, that is slander.

I'm sure you can see, and maybe even admit, that a company isn't always right and can be held accountable for their lies.

PolkThug

Demiurge wrote:

Hey, Mr. Contradiction is back, what a surprise.

He was fired. Why he was fired is in the mind of the business owner. Whatever the business owner says can't be disproved by anyone because he can say whatever he wants to. Therefore, stating the reasons he was fired can't possibly be slander. It's not hard to figure out.

Mr. Contradiction? My definition seems to match other sources:

M-W's Dictionary of Law:
1 : defamation of a person by unprivileged oral communication made to a third party; also : defamatory oral statements
2 : the tort of oral defamation 'sued his former employer for slander'

WordNet:
1: words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another 2: an abusive attack on a person's character or good name

If I'm "Mr. Contradiction" then you can be "Mr. Misinformation".

Demiurge

PolkThug wrote:

Mr. Contradiction? My definition seems to match other sources:

M-W's Dictionary of Law:
1 : defamation of a person by unprivileged oral communication made to a third party; also : defamatory oral statements
2 : the tort of oral defamation 'sued his former employer for slander'

WordNet:
1: words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another 2: an abusive attack on a person's character or good name

If I'm "Mr. Contradiction" then you can be "Mr. Misinformation".

Can you please tell us what lies were spread about him? All he said was that his boss told the others why he was fired. That's not slander, and it's not illegal. I'm happy you know the definition of slander, but it's unfortunate you don't know what situations the word applies to.

PolkThug

Demiurge wrote:

Can you please tell us what lies were spread about him?

I wasn't there, so I don't know.

However, BaggedLancer seems to feel that his boss lied about him, so that's all I have to go on. Heck, maybe BaggedLancer is a liar.

You can't handle the truth.

Demiurge

brettw22 wrote:

Demi, when a company fabricates a reason as to the firing of an employee, and then opens an employees file to everyone currently working there and pushes that lie as fact, that is slander.

I'm sure you can see, and maybe even admit, that a company isn't always right and can be held accountable for their lies.

We know companies aren't always right. They may be wrong here. All I know is there is no way you can construe giving factual reasons that someone was fired as slander. Even if they were lies you can't possibly prove it.

He's 21 years old. Why give him advice that has a 95% chance of **** him over long term? The big lesson to be learned here is learning to cut your losses. Something tells me we're not getting the whole story here anyhow.

Demiurge

PolkThug wrote:

I wasn't there, so I don't know.

However, BaggedLancer seems to feel that his boss lied about him, so that's all I have to go on. Heck, maybe BaggedLancer is a liar.

You can't handle the truth.

No, he's saying the reason he was fired is false, and thus a lie. It doesn't matter. The business owner made a judgement and fired him. It's tough titties, and time to move on. He wasn't lying about why he fired him, but he may be wrong in that he did anything wrong. Unfortunately it doesn't matter, and there's nothing he can do legally.

shack

MA is an "at-will" employment state.

At-Will
In general, the employer's decision to hire an employee does not represent a commitment to employ that person for any definite period of time. The employee may quit at any time and for any reason, and the employer may terminate the employee at any time and for any reason except for those reasons specifically forbidden by state and federal law.

Slander is VERY difficult to prove (He said - they said - intent and so forth). Even if he can prove slander then he must be able to prove damages. Since the company can fire him "at-will" he would then have to prove how he was damaged by the comments to other employees. I doubt any lawyer would take a case like this on contengency since the chance of recovering any damages is slim. The lawyer's advice would probably be get over it and move on. He should do just that.