Fired and Defamed in Washington

[pradesj]

Greetings, after an accomplished 10 year career in the Fire Service I was fired for misuse of a sick day. During the termination process a previous "oral warning", my only disciplinary action over a stellar 10yrs, was presented in written form. The "oral warning" which was supposed to be on record for one year was presented 18 months later at my termination. This now written document made false representation of the "oral Warning" and was used as evidence against me during my termination. The new "written" claim made a much more serious allegation which was untrue and published on the front page of the local paper after my termination. I had been a well known and highly thought of member of the community for 25 + years previous to the publication of the article. Do I have any recourse after the fact? This occurred in Dec. 2004. What is the statue of limitations for defamation of character in Washington State?

[Beth3]

Do I have any recourse after the fact? Recourse against who? The newspaper that reported the story of your termination?

[pradesj]

Recourse

Claims against the Employer for exagerating the prior "oral warning" or for making all the "allegations" public even if they weren't true. Or to the paper for publishing something incorrect facts. Any of the above.

[ElleMD]

Claims against the Employer for exagerating the prior "oral warning"

Nope.

or for making all the "allegations" public even if they weren't true.

Sounds like they were true. You missused a sick day. Even if it wasn't true, if your employer believed it to be true, it is legal to say so.

Or to the paper for publishing something incorrect facts. Any of the above.

Unless the paper totally made up the story, no, you can not sue them. No, they do not have to reveal their sources to you either.

If this happened in 2004, why are you just now trying to do something about it?
In any case, the statute of limitations is 2 years for slander/libel cases in Washington.

[fj40dave]

Hey Jim

Good to see things are a lot better than "back then" for ya now.

I know the feeling

[bcexpress]

Reply to Fire guy wrongly fired

Greetings, after an accomplished 10 year career in the Fire Service I was fired for misuse of a sick day. During the termination process a previous "oral warning", my only disciplinary action over a stellar 10yrs, was presented in written form. The "oral warning" which was supposed to be on record for one year was presented 18 months later at my termination. This now written document made false representation of the "oral Warning" and was used as evidence against me during my termination. The new "written" claim made a much more serious allegation which was untrue and published on the front page of the local paper after my termination. I had been a well known and highly thought of member of the community for 25 + years previous to the publication of the article. Do I have any recourse after the fact? This occurred in Dec. 2004. What is the statue of limitations for defamation of character in Washington State?

Washington is an at will state and as such you can be terminated at any time for any reason. One of the exceptions is fired through no fault of your own. Seems you were at fault for alledged mis use of a sick day and they falsified documents in order to fraudulently increase the severity of the alledged mis use. Also there is such a thing as harassment of the type where you were fired by deliberate use of false statements.

Having said all this in order to let you know what some the arguable choices might be I think youmay have let time run out with the exception of fraud if you can prove fraid was committed you may still have a legal persuit of revenge. Monitarily you are out of luck. If you were thinking of going after these guys the rule of thumb is file your claim as quick as possible after the action has ocurred.

[Pattymd]

bcexpress, did you notice this thread is nearly a year old?

[bcexpress]

Late response

Duh....what a dumb ***.

Thanks....I failed to look at the date