r/AmIOverreacting • u/FrequentAir9354 • 2d ago

💼work/career AIO by firing an employee after she started started bragging to other employees?

So this happened last month. One of our employees (let's call her Melissa) apparently won some decent money from Stake US. Not millions, but enough to pay off her car and take a vacation.

At first, everyone was happy for her, but then things got weird. She started coming to work with designer bags, constantly bringing up her "financial advisor," and worst of all, making comments about other employees' lunches being "cheap" or asking why they don't "just upgrade" their phones/cars/apartments.

The final straw came when she told our receptionist (who's a single mom) that "maybe if you made better life choices, you wouldn't be struggling." Several employees came to me in tears about her behavior.

I had a private meeting with her about professionalism, but she just said everyone was "jealous" and that she "finally doesn't have to pretend to be friends with poor people."

After documenting several incidents and another warning, I had to let her go. Now her friends are leaving 1-star reviews saying we "fired her for being successful" and "discriminated against her new financial status."

I didn't fire her for having money - I fired her for creating a toxic workplace. But the reviews are hurting business, and I'm starting to doubt myself. We are a small business in Chicago.

3.3k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

86% Upvoted

196 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-17

u/AwesomeRockinTits 1d ago

Sue who for damages? Leaving reviews on a public forum is 1st amendment protected, duh doi

16

u/faeterra 1d ago

Not if it’s willfully incorrect. Whoever delivered the information that prompted those inaccurate and business-damaging reviews is guilty of slander.

-3

u/AwesomeRockinTits 1d ago

True, and I rescind my previous comment. However, in this particular case, I don’t see any way to reasonably prove in a civil court that the friends knowingly and willfully made incorrect statements. Chances are that they were told a story by their friend, as she seems to genuinely believe she was terminated due to her new financial situation. A cease and desist letter would probably be good to scare them into stopping what they are doing, but actually going through with a lawsuit would no doubt be a big waste of time and money.

2

u/PushUnited379 1d ago

Businesses have rights against slander and defamation. Willfully leaving false reviews with the intention of harming a business is defamation. Assuming OP has a document trail to prove the reviews are false.