NSW False allegation used to nearly fire me -- no due diligence

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badrobot

Member
29 March 2019
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I am an intern at a company. I was out one day with coworkers and then four months later I find out that someone made a false allegation about me based on that day, saying that I said that "all women deserve less rights than men" and that "women should get less rights than men for the same job" (less pay)

This internship was facilitated by my university Coop program.

The only other person who was there, denied I said that. I was not aware this false allegation was used against me. I was not given a chance to refute the allegation, deny it, accept it -- hell I had NO IDEA it was even made. Furthermore, I volunteer at a charity that supports women rights, every second Saturday.

Despite this, this is what happened:

1. This false allegation was escalated to my Coop university program manager

2. This was escalated to my boss, and all the way up to and including the CISO

3. The CISO said "one more thing and I'd be fired"

They did not evne tell me who made the false allegation. They just assumed it was true, with no due diligence. I feel that is very discriminatory because of my nationality being middle eastern. Despite the fact that they did not tell me who made the false allegation, I was able to name the person based off memory (who I had no idea hated me, as I had lunch with him a few days prior). When I informed my internship manager at the university that, she informed the sponsor company that it is not true, that I deny it. The guy who made the false allegation was then suspended for one week.

I've had other issues with this company, including contant harassment, retaliation, violation of my privacy, gaslighting and the worst offence of all: victimisation and retaliation everytime I asked my coop program manager for advice, in how to deal with a manager who was harassing me. I had emails deleted from my personal account when an "investigation" was being done, everyone pretended to have no idea what was going on (I have evidence that I was being retaliated every single time I asked for advice, without mentioning any names).

I have anxiety, ADHD, autistic spectrum disorder, major depressive disorder (all diagnosed).

I honestly don't want to sue because I don't care about the money. I just feel so so so strongly that something like this shouldn't happpen to anyone. I volunteer at a lot of charities for empowering women, ANZAC fundraising, poverty alleviation and even released a free education app for year 9 students (which hit 40,000 +) but despite all this, I'm being unfairly judged and criticised.

Can someone please help?