A few things came to mind immediately when I read your posting. In order for a slanderous lawsuit to be effective, you must prove first of all that something harmful was said. You said "We quit our jobs because the director of maintenance was saying that my husband could overtorque or overtemp the helicopter and I would cover it up." You used the word "COULD". This sentence implies a fictional scenario. You did not say that the director of maintenance said that you and your husband did, in fact, do this, but rather, you said he mentioned that your husband COULD do it, and that IF he did, you WOULD cover it up. The way you have explained it here is merely describing a possibility, not an accusation of illegal activity by you or your husband. If the director of maintenance publicly and officially accused you of committing this particular act, and in turn, that resulted in your getting fired for no other apparent reason, then perhaps you would have a case. But, according to the way you have outlined it here, this was not the case.

You also state "We gave the director of operations 2 weeks to correct this situation." What correction would that be? To stop talking about you? What was it that you wanted them to do? Your sentences immediately preceding talk about everyone being "pissed off"---you wanted them to stop being "pissed off"? What action exactly did you expect and what parties did you ask to perform this action?

You say "I have a good hunch he is saying negative comments about myself and my husband." Unfortunately, you cannot take a "good hunch" into a court room. If you want to sue for slander, you must be able to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that this rhetoric actually occurred, specifically what was said and to whom it was said. And, most importantly, you MUST be able to prove you were damaged in some TANGIBLE way (defamed, harassed, discriminated against, loss of employment, etc). From what you said, you voluntarily quit your job---you were not fired because of this fictional statement.

I am not sure how you live off unemployment when you chose a job that is seasonal in nature. If I am employed at a local retailer for holiday work, when the holidays end, I cannot collect unemployment since the work was, by nature, temporary and/or seasonal. So, I have no idea how you are managing to collect unemployment in the first place. However, regarding unemployment, generally, you cannot get unemployment if you quit. Period. So, I do not know how you can expect to prove you deserve benefits after quitting a job because someone said something you didn't like. From your own statements, there were those in the chain of command that didn't like you or the fact that you were a woman, etc in the first place. Since you admitted that, it would be even harder to prove that this one statement made by one person in passing changed an otherwise ideal work situation.

If you really feel convinced of the legitimacy of your opinion in all of this, seek help from an employment law attorney. He ( or she ) should be able, in a few minutes, to tell you if you have a case. Good luck.