Sacked due to an unstubstantiated allegation

DVardysShadow

Andrew1975 wrote: »

the damages being his loss of job due to a defamatory statement being made against him.

You are talking about the company defaming him by sacking him for GM. Well they are entitled to sack him any way - it only comes to GM if they tell another smeployer he was sacked for GM.

Now the difficult part is that if he was sacked on the pretext of GM and they only tell other employers he was sacked under no fault provisions in law, I don;t see that there is a claim. But if they sacked him on the basis of lies form a 3rd party, there is a basis for a claim against the 3rd party.

Andrew1975

Acc72 wrote: »

Can he prove it ? - and also does he have the time, money and energy to go through a legal process that ultimately may be unsuccessful ?

I am not saying that my advice is "right", just that sometimes in the great scheme of things he would IMHO be better off spending his time and energy in finding another job rather than focussing on this.

I would think in libel/slander cases the onus is upon the person being accused to prove their accusations are correct - not for the person bringing the action to prove that they are incorrect?

Andrew1975

DVardysShadow wrote: »

You are talking about the company defaming him by sacking him for GM. Well they are entitled to sack him any way - it only comes to GM if they tell another smeployer he was sacked for GM.

Now the difficult part is that if he was sacked on the pretext of GM and they only tell other employers he was sacked under no fault provisions in law, I don;t see that there is a claim. But if they sacked him on the basis of lies form a 3rd party, there is a basis for a claim against the 3rd party.

yes this seems sound advice to me.

and if the 3rd party are individuals within the organisations employment - could he take action against those individuals?

InsideInsurance

You also need to remember that deformation cases are very expensive and often difficult to prove. Even if they do win does the third party have the funds to cover both their claim for loss of earnings and the legal fees?

You get into real problems if the third party has said something like "I think I heard him/ her swearing at a customer", it'll be next to impossible to prove that is what they THOUGHT they heard as even if you could get the customer to validate what was said that doesnt disprove that the colleague miss heard it.

Andrew1975

apparently the letter he received states something along the lines of 'you were seen doing xxx by 2 employees and we therefore have no trust or confidence in you, and have no choice but to terminate your employment with immediete effect'.

As I said he is certain the allegation is a fabrication, and there is no evidence to support the allegation in question.

custardy

Andrew1975 wrote: »

apparently the letter he received states something along the lines of 'you were seen doing xxx by 2 employees and we therefore have no trust or confidence in you, and have no choice but to terminate your employment with immediete effect'.

As I said he is certain the allegation is a fabrication, and there is no evidence to support the allegation in question.

No evidence? apart from 2 independent witnesses?

Andrew1975

custardy wrote: »

No evidence? apart from 2 independent witnesses?

independent? not sure they are. but anyway, he was apparently accused of falsifying something - and he says he can evidence that no such falsification occured.

i would argue that 'evidence' which are comments made by employees, which can be disproved, fall into the category of lies.

custardy

Andrew1975 wrote: »

independent? not sure they are. but anyway, he was apparently accused of falsifying something - and he says he can evidence that no such falsification occured.

independent in that they are not the employer
given you cant provide the actual scenario/proof
then people can only go on whats on this thread

Andrew1975

custardy wrote: »

independent in that they are not the employer
given you cant provide the actual scenario/proof
then people can only go on whats on this thread

Ok well anyway he says the documents in question that he supposedly falsified never existed - and they wont be able to provide evidence that they ever did exist, and that anyway the area of work concerned had nothing to do with him.

The employer however agreed with whatever they were told, regardless and took action.

To me it sounds like office politics and the employer acted rashly.

I wasnt there, so I dont know - but I have no reason to suspect he is making it up.

maninthestreet

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Employment Tribunal. Start by ringing ACAS, and come back here to let us know what they say. Not all their advice is 100%........

He's only been employed for 2 months, so unless the claim is for discrimination, he cannot take the employer to an ET.