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I work for a doctor's office. I was returning from lunch yesterday and pulled into our parking lot only to find a guy and his enormous double extended cab Ford F-150 (or whatever it was) blocking the entire entrance. I obviously stopped, backed up to give him room to maneuver, and he still couldn't maneuver this montrosity of a vehicle around as a UPS truck pulled up behind him at this point. I backed up further nearly back out into the street as he finally pulled out, I pulled in, and I thought the incident was over. Then, he circles the parking lot as I was walking back to the office, stopped literally in front of me, got out of his vehicle, and demanded to know who I was. I said, "Why?" He said, "Because I'm Dr. ___________ [left blank on purpose] and I want to know. For the record, he is not affiliated with our practice. So, I told him my name and I have a logo on my shirt so he knew where I work. He wanted to know how long I'd worked there then he said I have no right to park where I [Yes, in my own employer's parking lot which is not a private parking lot or anything] was and said if I didn't move my vehicle, he would have it towed. I'd bought eggs over lunch [to make brownies that night] and I said, "OK, let me take this back to the office and I'll move it." He said, "OK" and I did so. By the time I returned back to the office, my practice administrator called me in, said, "Dr. ____________ called in and said you were the rudest person ever and wanted to talk to the doctors but I told him they were all busy. I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to let you go." Flabbergasted, I said that I didn't understand because I backed up, gave him room, and even answered all his questions even though, quite frankly, I thought he was a ***** of a doctor who just had a bad day and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, I've been there three months, just received a promotion, this has nothing to do with my work, and this is all politics of one single doctor referring patients who called in and said, presumably, I don't like this guy and I want him gone. I'm a paralegal and I understand all about at-will employment but termination of employment is usually work-related in some manner. This incident was off the clock on my lunch break and I believe I have a good case for some type of wrongful termination/emotional distress. What are your thoughts???
I know there's not a case against my employer but what about a personal civil case against the other doctor? It seems to be that, in essence, assuming that I retired from the medical practice that he interfered with the potential earning of lifetime wages (from my age now until age 65) in excess of $1,000,000. Wouldn't it seem there's some type of personal liability involved possibly emotional distress?
I know there's not a case against my employer but what about a personal civil case against the other doctor? It seems to be that, in essence, assuming that I retired from the medical practice that he interfered with the potential earning of lifetime wages (from my age now until age 65) in excess of $1,000,000. Wouldn't it seem there's some type of personal liability involved possibly emotional distress?
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