Until mid October, I worked for the largest health care system in my county for 3 months. I requested in writing to my supervisor to be re-assigned to a unit away from a 20-something co-worker who I felt was becoming a a problem for me. My supervisor told me she had told another person to re-assign me. I was not.
One night while working, I was approached and harassed by the young woman (there are witnesses to this), insisting I was causing problems for her. I held my temper in an attempt not to escalate the situation into which the younger woman had also pulled in a 3rd co-worker. I ended up being taken by paramedics to the ER because I passed out due to stress which lowered my heart rate (more) to the point that I passed out. There were no complaints about the quality of my work until this incident.
Two days later, I was called in the supervisors' office and fired (October '07) citing everything from me being the cause of a hostile work environment to my use of negative language. She told me she had interviewed my co-workers extensively and no one liked working with me, I was not a team player and I interacted with patients without compassion. In short, the supervisor marked everything wrong on my evaluation possible. The exceptions were that I was neat in appearance and I reported to work for my shifts.
Everything single accusation made against me were lies. I spoke with co-workers who knew nothing of questions concerning me. I was asked week after week to work overtime and I did. I was even given advance notice of overtime hours I was to work for Sept-Nov (2007).
I talked with a member of human resources and asked that he investigate the charges against me himself. He informed me of even more accusations made against me by the supervisor which I had not heard. I never heard from him again.
I have appealed the denial of my claim for unemployment benefits and have co-workers and patients who are willing to testify on my behalf that none of the claims were ever truthful.
I know North Carolina is an "At-Will" employment state, however, does this mean that supervisors/managers can simply lie and make false accusations about any co-worker/employee and are not required to document or prove their claims? I would be willing to take a polygraph test to prove I am truthful --- would this be helpful? The 20-something co-worker who harassed me was kept on the job. I am 47 years old.
If there was any shred of truth to even one of the claims, I wouldn't feel so determined to fight this. However, I will not allow my work history to be disrupted by lies without a darn good fight!!!!! I have never been accused of anything like this and I want justice!!!! What are my legal options in this state to remedy my problem? I would appreciate honest feed-back.

Why were you fired? What reason was given. On what basis were you harassed? Most of what people think is illegal or constitutes harassment does not meet the legal definition.

The performance review reads in part:

"Sugarleaf sent a letter to Dept. Director dated 10-2-07 detailing problems with co-workers and accusing some of having relationships outside of work. An investigation of this allegation proved that Sugarleaf is unprofessional and hostile in her communication with co-workers, using inappropriate derrogatory language that is dissruptive to work environment. This can not be tolerated".
------- this was the major reason given as to why I was fired. This is also not truthful.

In short, according to this woman (who never worked with me), I did very little right and I was a nasty in temperment and not good to work with patients. Of course I have a copy of the letter I gave to her requesting to be re-assigned and not one word can be found in it derogatory!
I would think that any time one employee blatantly lies on another with the clear intent to cause that person to be terminated, should be grounds for legal action. Not one claim the supervisor made can be validated by anyone. I worked just the opposite of what she claimed. I got along very well with co-workers, never a complaint from any patient(s), I worked relentlessly to help the unit whenever they asked me to work overtime. I worked on a psychiatric unit and often worked with the patients who were psychotic and very mentally sick.
The nurses I worked with praised me for the extra effort I put into caring for patients and the ones I asked are willing to speak on my behalf at the hearing for unemployment.

Unfortunately, as no laws were broken, there is no recourse. This is not harassment as the law defines it. Your employer is not required to reassign you because you can not get along with one of your coworkers. If yo uhave only been there a few weeks and are already demanding changes, it does not bode well for the long term.

The performance review reads in part:

"Sugarleaf sent a letter to Dept. Director dated 10-2-07 detailing problems with co-workers and accusing some of having relationships outside of work. An investigation of this allegation proved that Sugarleaf is unprofessional and hostile in her communication with co-workers, using inappropriate derrogatory language that is dissruptive to work environment. This can not be tolerated".
------- this was the major reason given as to why I was fired. This is also not truthful.

In short, according to this woman (who never worked with me), I did very little right and I was a nasty in temperment and not good to work with patients. Of course I have a copy of the letter I gave to her requesting to be re-assigned and not one word can be found in it derogatory!
I would think that any time one employee blatantly lies on another with the clear intent to cause that person to be terminated, should be grounds for legal action. Not one claim the supervisor made can be validated by anyone. I worked just the opposite of what she claimed. I got along very well with co-workers, never a complaint from any patient(s), I worked relentlessly to help the unit whenever they asked me to work overtime. I worked on a psychiatric unit and often worked with the patients who were psychotic and very mentally sick.
The nurses I worked with praised me for the extra effort I put into caring for patients and the ones I asked are willing to speak on my behalf at the hearing for unemployment.
I was harassed by the young woman because she told me she heard I had said something about her having an affair with an older, male nurse. I told her I did not say any such thing and that it was her own talk about her feelings for this male nurse that she was hearing coming back to her. She followed me down the hallway (which video from that night will show) insisting that she wanted to get things straight right then and there. I told her it was unprofessional to use work time for resolving matters such as the one she had. I suggested we talk after 7:30 AM when we got off work. She insisted that the issue be discussed then and there!
It was said by other co-workers that the young woman and a male nurse were called into the supervisor's office and questioned as to if they were dating. Many people had talked of this possibility but no one knew for sure. She assumed I had reported them. I told her I had made a request to be re-assigned to another unit because I did not feel she could work well with me because of her unfriendly attitude towards me. I also told her that I had been told by a couple of employees that she had been talking very negatively about me and it was then that I decided it would be best if she and I did work the same unit. I also told her I felt she was angry because I had flirted with the male nurse in question and he had returned the flirting.
Company policy asked that employees not date other employees on the same floor or unit and preferrably not on the same shift. However, it will not result in termination if such is found to be true.
After the confrontation and my subsequent firing, I now feel the supervisor very well may have been the person who told the young girl I had accused her of having a relationship with the male nurse. I had not.

An unfair firing does not necessarily equate to an illegal firing.

I sounds like you were an employee "at will." Under NC law, they can fire an employee at will for any reason, good reason, bad reason, unfair reason or no reason at all, and you have no recourse. About the only way they can screw this up is to discriminate against you on the basis of age, gender, race, national origin, disability, or religion, or fire you for refusing to violate the law. Sounds like you were having some conflicts with a coworker, and that is a perfectly legitimate reason to fire an at-will employee. You should be able to draw unemployment, however. Good luck.