Vexatious ex-employee going to press?

[ThatsNotMyCherry]

Hi I’m feeling quite stressed and was wondering if anyone could offer any advice. DH used to manage someone who turned out to be a vexatious employee who basically makes complaints at every employer that he’s with that they are homophobic in order to get money. They only found out after they had employed him that he does this as someone in the company knew his old boss. He was under performing so they were about to speak to him about it and then he quit probably because he realised what was coming. He has since made complaints to the regulator of the profession which have been dismissed as they have been found to be totally baseless and in fact there is plenty of evidence that he has fabricated the allegations. However we have now found out that he’s gone to the press. Nothing has been published yet.
Does anyone have any experience of this sort of situation? Is there anything you can do? He will probably be getting legal advice on this next week.

Unlikely press will be interested

If the press print it they're on very dodgy ground, as if they knowingly print slander then they can be sued for libel. I very much doubt they'll print anything, as all they need to do is a basic fact check to see that it's not true.

You could get a solicitor to write to him threatening legal action for slander.

The media will want to be cautious about not libelling DH or his employer.

When employment disputes are reported in the press it's usually when they've gone to a tribunal, when press can use legal privilege to report the proceedings.

You don't in reality get much "he said she said" gossip in the papers and your husband's firm will have an opportunity to respond to any allegations.

If the potential reputational damage could translate into lot business then it might be worth retaining the services of a public relations officer.

Thanks! Good to know that press need to be careful.

He’s definitely gone to them as the PR dept of DH company have been contacted and that’s how we know

I agree with PPs that it's unlikely to get printed.

If it does get printed, it could work against the employee anyway as it will get brought up on a google search by potential employers and could put them off.

I can’t imagine why the media would be interested. Don’t worry.

They wouldn’t publish anything without evidence so you can relax.

The company must be pretty high profile for the press to be interested then?

It’s a top 10 company in its area. It’s not mainstream press that’s interested it’s an industry publication which is a bit tabloid-y.

I have heard of cases where somebody has justifiably won their case at tribunal, but found it difficult to get the same type of work afterwards. Very unfair, I know, if they had good cause.
This character doesn't even have that strong case.
A good friend of mine won a case for unfair dismissal; it was a gruelling process, even though he was in the right, and he was compensated for loss of future earnings as well as being awarded costs. The press were not in the least interested until the court proceedings were ended.
He will , realistically, need to pay for a good lawyer, with no guarantee of getting his costs back. My guess is that he is angling for an out-of-court settlement, and doesn't realise that his previous unsuccessful litigation weakens his case further. My friend who was successful certainly didn't alert the press beforehand.
If the facts are clear, and systematically recorded, no reputable lawyer will be keen to take it on.

pity no one can report a story of an (anonymous) employee who was a serial blackmailer of firms claiming homophobia - to the newspaper with History of working at whatever list of firms (ie get in first)