glassdoor review and threat of being sued

[thelonelyones]

I wrote an honest negative review on glassdoor about a company I interviewed with. I used an email address which is not my normal one although I know glassdoor doesn't show your name and their site says they don't tell the organisation if the organisation asked. My review was accurate and professional, no swear words or anything like that. They are a small organisation. Lots of people warned me against applying but I did and didn't enjoy the interview experience. There aren't many glassdoor reviews due to their size. They work with, and mostly employ, people who have backgrounds of homelessness, addiction etc.
I've since received a nasty email from the owner along the lines of "we know it was you who wrote the review, take it off or we'll sue". I've not responded.
I am worried though. Should I take it off? Can they sue me? And what if they contact my current employer (I got a better job offer almost immediately afterwards). My company is a similar employer in a sector where most organisations know each other. I love my job. its a bigger organisation with lots of (positive) glassdoor reviews. I'm just worried that they will ruin it.
What do I do? Do I just ignore or do I give in and remove the review - bearing in mind other potential employees, including vulnerable people, could then have a similar experience.
Any lawyers, HR experts who can advise?
YABU - remove the review
YANBU - ignore the threat

They’ve may have emailed the same threat to everyone who they interviewed.
Sit tight and stay silent.

I would ignore it if possible block their email address

You have no idea what they’re talking about. Review? Online you say? You wrote one on Amazon about 5 years ago, maybe one or two on EBay. Glass door? You’ve never heard of it.
Deny, deny, deny, works for politicians.

Don’t respond either to the email or on glass door. That’s just throwing oil on the fire. Ignore.

Well, if they knew it was you then they recognise your experience. Unless you said anything demonstrably untrue then they haven’t got a leg to stand on, and they more than likely know that. It’s just bullshit to intimidate you so just ignore.

What would they sue you for?

Glassdoor provides a platform that allows people to post their feedback on interviewing or working for companies and you did just that. They would not have a leg to stand on. The format is full of reviews that don't show companies in positive lights.

I would simply ignore them and call their bluff.

You could sue them if they try to mess up your current employment...also any decent employer who was approached by a company like that trying to shit-steer would reply that if they don't want people to leave negative reviews they should simply give staff and job applicants a decent experience.

They probably emailed everyone they recently interviewed and rejected hoping that one of you would get scared and take the review down.

They sound absolutely vile.

I wonder, is this a charity? because I doubt they would have the money to take on any kind of legal action...

they cold have sent the same to everyone to try and catch someone out

dont respond

They don't have a leg to stand on legally if your review was truthful and an honest opinion.

Ignore the email and let the review stand.

IGNOR, do not reply, they can't prove it was you, and if what you said is true they most likely have no grounds.

To sue you would run into tens of thousands of pounds, they are not going to do it, its a cheap threat, keep your head down and move on

They probably emailed everyone they recently interviewed and rejected hoping that one of you would get scared and take the review down.

Exactly. They want the review gone, and hope the threat of lawyers will achieve that. If the OP just ignores the email, what is their next step? Glassdoor is designed as an anonymous platform - they’re not going to confirm or deny if the review came from the OP. (Plus, if she’s used a secondary email address, even Glassdoor doesn’t have enough detail to identify the OP, never mind the company identifying her.)

Unless they only interviewed two candidates for the role and the other one was successful - and this has been their only open role in recent months - they can’t be sure the review came from the OP. Of course, the review IS from the OP, but if they’ve emailed everyone it could be, they have by definition managed to get the right person - they just got five or six wrong ones too.

I'd remove it in case they know someone at the organisation you are going to (more likely if its the same sector and a bit of.a clique then suing). Who cares about been "honest" on some review site - protect number 1 - yourself.

We don't know what the review said so don't know if it is defamatory or otherwise illegal. As it is a small industry it might be safer to remove it even though if the review is true you probably have no reason to remove it.

Ignore them.

GP surgeries around my way love to advertise a new job every 6 weeks for receptionist, the darlings very helpfully avoid online interview feedback/review… can’t think why.

I only deleted one interview review in private sector because I went on to behave very badly 12 months on when ended up offered job at higher salary, whom I’d moaned about 12 months previously. It didn’t feel right following an offer in 2023 so deleted it was.

I’d happily tell the gp’s about the ‘girly chats’ not being interviews and or why had three practises nearby in three months, needed to change their recruitment methods.

Yes, but they couldn’t do anything and they deserve people knowing what they’re like.

Bit strange to write a negative review off of one experience, especially if the company champions homeless people & other disadvantaged groups, not sure about that

No, they can't sue you.

First they have to prove it was you...which they can't.
Then they would have to prove that what you said was untrue, and since it was an account of your subjective experience, they can't do that.
They also have to show that your comments have or could damage their reputation.

Not disputing that you had a bad experience but why was your first thought to write a review on Glassdoor? Why didn't you give the feedback to their HR team?

Giving feedback to the HR team doesn't help anyone else, does it?

If your review is honest and it's clear that it is based soley on your interview experience with them, then they can't sue.

Even if they did try it on and for some unearthly reason it got as far as court without being laughed out of there, you'd simply be able to produce the nasty email and a judge would immediately see what sort of people they are and rule in your favour. Any sane, rational, professional person would 'reach out for your feedback' to see 'how they can improve going forwards'.

Personally I'd edit my review with a transcript of their email and a note to say, 'look what they sent me on reading this review dear reader!!! Draw your own conclusions about them.'

What would the HR team do? I have never met an HR team that sucessfuly delivers anything for an employee, never mind interviewee.

OP, my field is libel and defamation. You are being given some very bad advice on here. Take it from me, this is what you should do; Do NOT directly respond to the threat. This is a matter in the first instance for Glassdoor, as the publishers of the post they object to. In the highly unlikely the complainant goes to law, they would be required to sue Glassdoor as well as you. And Glassdoor have deep pockets, sharp lawyers and are well used to seeing off threats from cheeky fuckers
But it won't come to this. Simply forward the threatened message to Glassdoor. All your covering message has to say is 'I have received this and do not intend to respond as I stand by every word of my review'.
Whatever you do, DO NOT at any point deny authorship of the review. This might easily be proved to be untrue, which gives the organisation making the threats the ability to say 'well, if you lied about that, you could well be lying about what happened in your interview'.
So, OP, head down and don't be threatened. Suing for libel is a seriously costly business for both sides. The earlier poster who warned of solicitors charging £100 an hour has laughably underpriced the cost of litigation. Most specialists would charge £850 an hour, with a minimum £20,000 deposit even before court proceedings begin. But to go back to the first point I made: it's a matter for Glassdoor rather than you.

You don't have to wait for interviews to end. I've cut more than one short when it's become clear it's not 5he job for me.

Read OP's posts. And research what glass door is for.

I mean that's literally what glassdoor is for. Interview advice and reviews from people who work there

Yes it is a small charity or social enterprise rather, and there is no HR. There is the founder/director, her friend as a CEO and a couple of part time staff doing advisory roles or marketing and stuff. probably around 10 staff in total.

@Micksdottir that is helpful thank you, I am going to ignore and hope they don't try anything else