any help would be appreciated
is it possible to get fired based purely on hearsay, with no evidence?

a friend of mine is afraid she might get fired soon as a result of a rumor that sparked an investigation between a higher manager and herself. the rumor is that they're having an affair, which is false, stated by the manager's wife to higher management. also, the investigation can't really take place because the manager quit since he knew that it would be too much bs for him to go through and how corrupt the company is, but the girl is still working there. anyway, is it legal?

(Post a new comment)

	pipi 2008-10-03 10:22 am UTC (link)
	Depends on what your state laws are. Here in Maryland you can be fired for no reason at all and it is absolutely legal. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	bobofdoom 2008-10-03 12:45 pm UTC (link)
	We are also a Right-To-Work state. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	pipi 2008-10-03 04:47 pm UTC (link)
	You're hot! Lol. (Reply to this) (Parent)

the_noisemaker
2008-10-03 10:30 am UTC (link)

No, without evidence there is no case and if they haven't admitted that they were having an affair it is as you said, purely hearsay. There would normally have to be a tribunal where the case would be reviewed but even if they were having an affair the only real evidence would only be if one of the people had admitted the affair.

Under British law employers have to be really careful about sacking employees because people often sue for unfair dismissal so I should imagine that in the USA where Americans are world renowned for suing each other over the slightest thing, I should imagine an employer would have to be even more careful about sacking workers over such a trivial matter.

It sounds like to me that they are simply looking for something to sack your friend for.

(Reply to this)

	octaveleap 2008-10-03 01:53 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah it's legal to fire someone with no evidence, because the company might think "Well if this person sparks rumors like this, they can't be good for the company." But yeah, your friend can still sue for unfair dismissal. The whole thing would be a big hassle. (Reply to this)

zombiefood
2008-10-05 03:08 pm UTC (link)

California has really, really hardcore wrongful termination laws, in terms of (over-)protecting to employee. So if this were here, and they fired her, she could go back and sue them for quite a bit.

Unfortunately it works against the employers if the employee is the one in the wrong, as well. So people have to be so careful when it comes to firing their unruly staff, to make sure nothing can come back and bite them with the labor board.

(Reply to this)

	multiplesifl 2008-10-06 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	I think that she's going to have a hard time proving her innocence since the manager quit. That looks bad (Reply to this)