VIC Defamation and Sexual Harassment Allegation - Should I pursue it?

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Alex25

Active Member
4 April 2017
6
0
31
Should I pursue this?

So earlier this year I was accused of sexual harrasment by a female

colleague during a night shift. The colleague contacted HR about this

several days after the shift. The day after the report was made the

Operations Manager arrived at my desk and in a voice loud enough to be heard

by everyone around me, informed me that a complaint of misconduct had been

made against me by a coworker an I would need to stop what I was doing and

accompany her to HR to discuss. I was offered a support person but ended up

going alone.

I answered all the questions truthfully, I admitted to:

1) agreeing that a male coworker was "pretty good looking"
2) asking my colleague if I should "ask her out" after my colleague inferred
I liked the cleaning lady after speaking politely with her
3) after being asked whether I had seen a colleagues girlfriend, I advised I
had and that I thought she was "very pretty"

Everything else involved me propositioning my colleague for sex, oral sex,

and a myriad of other disgusting things..

Worth mentioning is that my desk is about 5-10 metres away from hers and any

communication we did involved loud talking (almost yelling) and I not once

approached her desk. She came over to my desk on several occasions to borrow

an iPhone charger and my access "swipe" card but that was it.

I was suspended for a day and a half and then resumed work. All night shifts

were immediately moved to the next floor up so employees "would not be left

alone" and shifts now ended at 9pm instead of midnight. When my colleauge

returned she asked or demanded to be seated in another section of the

building and certainly nowhere near me. Eventually she moved to the next floor up permanently and worked

from there

I believe she must of complained when she saw me on her level during a night

shift and then we were advised to move back to our level and a rather

embarrassing email was sent advising to call a manager if anyone felt

uncomfortable, like an emergency phone number.

During the next several months she would routinely come down to my level (I

believe intentionally as she would communicate with other employees as to

who was working etc) and she would sit very close to where I was and talk to

a fellow employee and giggle, whisper, etc. I could even make out a lot of

what she was saying and it did involve me, she would then prompt a coworker

to laugh etc. I even once caught her sitting at my desk before I started a

shift doing what looked like gossiping. I noted down all the times, who she was conversing with etc.

Well, long story short, she was eventually sacked for exposing herself on

the floor for a Snapchat video with another employee (true story)

At this point I could not see the point of pursuing anything further since the company took quick action against her

however at a Christmas party some interesting things were revealed.

That Operations Manager I mentioned earlier.. apparently she had uploaded a

"documented discussion" file for both myself and my now sacked colleague

shortly after the incident occured detailing exactly what I had said in

private as well as my colleagues comments. The HR Manager assured me all

discussions would be private. This file was uploaded on the systems "G"

drive which can be accessed by potentially thousands of employees. The

employee who insinuated this is well respected and holds a senior role.

This seems quite likely based on my experience, as the Op's Manager would

often use my computer over the weekends and well before this incident

happened, I noticed coming in on Monday morning that a strange file/s would

often be on the desktop.. curious and wondering it was something I forgot about,

I would open it to find it a confidential letter to an employee (letter of

abandonment etc). So this lady was certainly not the most tech/security

conscious person around.

Also, remember when I said my colleague went and sat in another section when

she returned? Well apparently she (assuming shortly after this happened)

went and told that sections team leader that I was "disgusting as I had

asked her to give me *fellatio*"). One of the lies she had reported against me in her initial complaint.

I also believe she had transmitted information over the Google Hangouts

system as more and more people knew about this than I first thought, and I

certainly didn't say anything to anyone.

One last thing which has nothing to do with the above:

I certainly understand the concept of 'banter' but at the Christmas party I

was being nagged by my Senior Manager, Team Leader and several staff to

"fess up" about my age. Well I don't work a special job and being nearly 36

there are people in my group that are half my age, coupled with the fact I

suffer anxiety and they should know this, my Senior Manager said that if I

didn't "fess up" she would look it up and post it online for all to see...

again maybe this is just "banter" but for someone in my situation this only

compounds my situation... I have emailed HR about

this and even asked for non essential information to be removed from the system or only visible to those that require it..

Regarding the main issue above, most people are surprised I bring this up especially when they ask if I still have my job. They seem quite shocked when I tell them I was suspended for a day and a half and then returned. Well yes I still work there and am an impeccable employee, but my reputation has been tarnished unfairly I believe.. I realise jobs are hard to find, but ones reputation can also be hard to repair.

Thanks for reading, any insights would be much appreciated
 

DMQC

Well-Known Member
29 June 2016
94
11
314
Hi Alex25, sorry to hear about your situation. The points you mention raise a myriad of potential issues, and it would be impractical to comment on each individually, so I will provide a brief summary on my view of your situation.

1. Yes, I would take action if I were in your position.

2. I would not take action for 'defamation' since your employer had no reason to believe the accusations were false, and believing them to be true (from the perspective of the reasonable person) is a defence to defamation.

3. I would take action for the breach of privacy, both by the supervisor speaking loudly and storing confidential documents on a readily accessible drive. This is the party where your employer likely impacted your anxiety.

4. You could bring an action against the former employee for defamation, however this would be difficult and likely come to nothing since someone with her character liklely has little to no assets.

5. If you haven't already, visit your GP re your anxiety and the issues that brought it on so it is documented by your doctor. You would need notes from your GP/Psychologist if you brought an action.

There does seem to be a claim here, at least prima facie anyway.
 

Alex25

Active Member
4 April 2017
6
0
31
Hi Alex25, sorry to hear about your situation. The points you mention raise a myriad of potential issues, and it would be impractical to comment on each individually, so I will provide a brief summary on my view of your situation.

1. Yes, I would take action if I were in your position.

2. I would not take action for 'defamation' since your employer had no reason to believe the accusations were false, and believing them to be true (from the perspective of the reasonable person) is a defence to defamation.

3. I would take action for the breach of privacy, both by the supervisor speaking loudly and storing confidential documents on a readily accessible drive. This is the party where your employer likely impacted your anxiety.

4. You could bring an action against the former employee for defamation, however this would be difficult and likely come to nothing since someone with her character liklely has little to no assets.

5. If you haven't already, visit your GP re your anxiety and the issues that brought it on so it is documented by your doctor. You would need notes from your GP/Psychologist if you brought an action.

There does seem to be a claim here, at least prima facie anyway.

Hello,

Apologies for the late reply.

I did manage to finally speak to a lawyer who did not require $815.00 upfront and advised me that even storing documents on a public drive for some time wasn't something worth pursuing.. even with embarrassment, breach of privacy, continued bullying, etc.

He advised to just email HR and let them know to be more careful next time.

This seemed strange but then again I'm not a lawyer.

Thanks for replying, though
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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Appreciate the update. Sometimes taking action is not worth the risk of potentially destroying employment relationships. Having an income for 6 months would likely be better than what you'd get from court.