I have a weird Employment Law cum Libel/Defamation/Slander type case question for legal bods please!

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

A client made a complaint to a manager about a member of staff, mentioned an attitude problem and stated that their behaviour was different from morning to afternoon, suggesting that lunchtime alcohol consumption could or was the cause.

An immediate disciplinary hearing was called on the basis of this allegation, yet no evidence was produced to back it up, no apparent investigation had been done prior to calling the hearing.

After various investigations, and the client refusing to drop this allegation, despite not being able to back it up, and the employee was able to satisfy the point that she had never spoken to this particular client in recent months, the case was 'closed' as such by the employer without further action.

The employee is very angry about it all, and, is wondering what they can do with regard to this serious allegation, and the slur on her character that has ensued.

Is there anything she can do wrt to defamation/libel action or would she have to do it by means of employment law?

Interesting idea, suing for defamation (roughly, libel is written, slander is verbal). No idea whether it would work! But in a non-lawyer face value way (am a journo so a vague nodding acquaintance with libel) I would say it is possible - defamation arises when someone damages your reputation with an untrue statement. However, there is no legal aid for defamation and cases can be hideously complicated and expensive. One private individual v. a large business - no contest, I'm afraid.

ooooh tricky.

Presumably this client made their complaint in writing? if so did they state times/dates of the aledged incidents?

If so this temployee would surely be able to prove that they weren't there at the time/that no communication had taken place, ie through phone records etc.

I would imagine she certainly has a case for defamation but not sure how she would go about it. She should speak to her company lawyer as this complaint occurred about her work, on work time etc.

Thanks.

No, nothing in writing. Which was half the problem and why it's an employment law issue too imo.

I dont think management handled it well - firstly, they hadn't verified if it was indeed that colleague (they'd named a name, but, that colleague has limited contact with them, and certainly nothing like contact morning and afternoon (in order to discern a change in behaviour) - none of the clients require contact that regularly. In fact, prior to the disciplinary hearing, it was asked if their other colleague was coming in too because "we may need to discuss issues that concern x colleague, and, to find out if it was x who spoke to client". They'd already decided the client had some substance to his complaint without doing any checking. (Interestingly, this client is known within the company as being a bully).

Now, said colleague is left with a bitter taste in her mouth, a feeling of lack of support, particularly since she has worked there for over 13 years with an entirely unblemished work record, a fear that the additional person as witness that managemetn brought in to their meeting will not keep matters to herself. Interestingly, she turned 60 just a few weeks ago and obviously hasnt retired.......