Slander case?

My husband and I work as a helicopter crew. He is the pilot and I am the mechanic. 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. He said this to our fuel truck driver and to one of our crew members from the US forest service, we were on a forest fire contract. He specifically used these words. They are buzz words in our industry. After these comments I was being questioned in detail about the aircraft and the fuel truck even saying he didn't believe me. This statement got around. 50+ miles away in a different town different company heard about it. We went through my husbands' chain of command. The chief pilot was pissed. The owner/general manager/director of operations only made excuses for the director of maintenance. We confronted the director of maintenance with the forest service crew in attendance. At first he denied it than he said it was taken out of context. This went on for about 6 weeks. We gave the director of operations 2 weeks to correct this situation. Nothing was done so we quit. We were denied unemployment benefits. When we had our appeal hearing we found out from the chief pilots testimony that the director of maintenance was not happy to have us hired in the first place. At no time did he indicate this to us. All we want is our unemployment benefits reinstated. A letter of apology would be nice but that would be a long shot. Is there anything we can do? We live off of the unemployment benefits throught the winter because we work contracts in the spring/summer/fall. Our jobs are somewhat seasonal and part time. This is a small industry. Being a female in it makes it even smaller. This director of maintenance was my direct boss. I have a good hunch he is saying negative comments about myself and my husband. Thanks for any help that can be offered. The company is in Louisiana and we live in Seattle, WA.

Kim

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.

Thank you for your reply. Maybe I didn't explain it thoroughly enough. The US forest service is huge on safety. The director of maintenance made these comments specificly to harm us. He has been in the business long enough to know what key words to use. He could have been vague but he chose buzz words. Vague would not have been a big deal. This was calculated. It is clear now after the appeal hearings. We aren't the only people he has done this to. We do have people as witnesses that he said this these comments to. He even admitted saying them in the appeal hearing. There are 10 conditions that WA state has to be eligible for unemployment. Unfortunately our industry doesn't fall in any of the catagories. What he was saying is that I was overlooking a potential catastrophic condition and my husband was causing it. We were on a rappel contract. These guys have to have total faith in both of our abilities. Especially the pilot. He hovers 150-200 feet from the ground while these guys rappel out of the helicopter. Now tell me if you were them and a person in a authority position, director of maintenance, said, 'I'm not happy with Bob and Kim because Bob could overtorque or overtemp the helicopter and Kim would cover it up.' Now tell me that isn't going to be going through your head when your standing on the skids ready to jump off. Remember the Alaska airline flight where the jack screw was the problem. The maintenance people knew about it but didn't say anything. They just turned the other way. People died. Lots of people died. This is the scenario that the director of maintenance was making. As far as the Director of Operations he could have had the director of maintenance take the crew aside and explain that his comments were false. Or he could have done it himself. We sat down with the crew and talked with them about the statements. But I don't think it had any effect because they still asked questions about what I was doing to the aircraft. Even when I was just wiping the grease off and cleaning it up. Something that I did on a regular basis so they knew what I was doing. The crew distanced themselves from us. Anyway your are probably right. There is nothing that can be done. It just very frustrating. Oh by the way, the director of maintenance was shown the door a couple of months afterwards because the company found out that he has been a problem in other areas. I guess that doesn't matter. All I know is that we had to remove ourselves away from the situation as soon as possible to come away with as little damage as possible. Thanks.

Kim

Oh, when I mentioned that the chief pilot was pissed off. It wasn't toward us it was toward the director of maintenance. He knows that the statement he made was damaging. The only person that didn't like us working for the company was the director of maintenance. Before this we were referred to as the 'Dream Team'. Even the Forest Service was happy with our work and even told it to us to our face. When the director of maintenance started relieving me for my days off is when we noticed a change in behavior from the people we were working with. I get the fact that this is hard to prove. But people like the director of maintenance need to be accountable for their actions.

Kim

It's probably advisable to contact a qualified employment attorney in your area if you've been denied unemployment benefits through standard appeal process. Your career is typical of an industry that works on a seasonal basis, i.e. weather or conditions permitting and isn't bound by any pre-determined set of observed holidays, the same as are members of the trades, laborers, etc. Though typically you can't collect unemployment benefits if you leave before your contract is fulfilled, you have the right to appeal. (As you already know.)

You'll most likely need to accumulate as much written documentation of the circumstances you've described, possibly via email or notarized statements (your attorney will indicate which is preferred.)You may also want to contact your local labor board as well to find out if you have any recourse there as well. You have the right to appeal the department of employment security's decision, even if you've already been denied once .. especially if you have sufficient documentation which casts doubts on your professional qualifications. People simply can't "say what they want" in the workforce in this day and age without facing possible litigation, especially when it can so easily be documented by several credible sources, such as managers, the chief pilot you mentioned or the various people in your husband's particular "chain of command." The dept of employment security may not go so far as to recognize the term "slander" but they may eventually reconsider your benefits if you can prove you left your job through no fault of your own.
This link may give you more specific information:
http://fortress.wa.gov/esd/portal/un...lshandbook.pdf

I suggest you begin accumulating your documentation as soon as possible and also if possible, begin a detailed journal with as much specific information as you can obtain. You've already been denied unemployment income based on apparently inaccurate and negative information and if this trend continues .. if you receive "bad" employment references that result in your not being able to get employment in the future .. you'll most certainly have grounds for litigation. It's important to begin (and maintain) your "paper trail" as soon as possible to protect your professional reputation .. much less your financial future.

Much good luck to both of you

The Jury's Still Out?, Thank you for the suggestions. The pilot has to, by law as per FAA regulations, keep a log. In the log he has to keep records of the flight time and duty time. The duty time is the non flght time on the job. This pilot also keeps a journal with breif notes on the days activities. We presented his pilot logs to the judge along with cell phone records to backup the calls made to the company on this matter. At my phone hearing the judge asked the Director of Maintenance if he made these statements to the Forest Service, he admitted making these statments. The judge even scolded him about the wisdom of making these statements. I have tried to contact our rappel crew with no luck. I believe they want to stay out. Government employees are afraid of thier own shadows. They are mainly college kids making some money during the summer to help pay for tuition. Basicly they scatter when the fire season is over. I don't know if it is worth the $2,000.00 owed to me by unemplotment to contact a lawyer. Again, thank you for your time to respond. My husband and I are still within our second appeal date. We are trying to figure out what more to add to our proof of the events that occurred. Seeing the proof we had presented didn't make any difference.

Kim

There is a section on the link I provided called "Find Legal Help" that may be of use to you. No guarantees there but it may be an outlet for you, as well as your local labor board. And for future needs in the event this results in your inability to get another job, I'd suggest you and your husband maintain your own personal logs of these incidents. Again, good luck.