Hello,
My name is Laura. I am doing accounting job. There are three other girls in the accounting office except me. I work so hard. and I do anything I can. I always say"no problem" and always finish anything earlier than others. so my manager gave me "excellence award" in last December. Other girls are jealous of me. And they thought I have been treated better. So many times they tried to get rid of me. Half year ago, one of them told my manager that I complained about my salary. But I never did. last month two girls told my boss that I read her personal Email when she went to lunch. I didn't even know what Email she was talking about. Today that girl told my boss that one of her spreadsheet has been deleted by others and only accounting staff can access that file. I tried to get away from trouble. But they can't leave me alone. They told everyone in the company I was so rude to them. But only thing I did is doing my work and talk nothing to them. I really want to sue them to ruin my reputation. Can I do that? Who can help me? thanks!

CaptainForest

Hello pupu.

Welcome to the board.

To get right into your question: If you choose to sue them, you will want to contact a lawyer to assist you with this matter.

Now, I have a few opinions on this matter:

Before rushing into suing them (because that is a drastic step), contact your company’s Human Resources Department and talk to them about the problems you are having. They might be best able to assist you with your problem.

If your Human Resources Department can’t help you, then try to talk with your boss. Tell him/her of all these lies and how you can’t stand it anymore and ask him to do something about it (perhaps by reading them the riot act).

As for what you can sue them for. Defamation is really your only recourse, but then you have to be able to PROVE it was them. Other than your word vs. theirs, is there any proof? The answer to that has to be yes.

But then, I would recommend courses other than suing for the time being.

One more thing:
You say that you never say “NO” to any of them. Why not? Start saying NO to them once and a while. You are doing THEM favours, and they treat you like crap? That seems unfair to me.

fredg

Hi,
Your first answer is very good.
This reaction by other workers in an office can be very typical.....not all workplaces, but some. People get jealous when someone does a good job, better than they are doing.
Has all the lies by these co-workers made any difference to your Boss? Has he/she talked with you about any of them? Has your Boss asked you about anything they have said? You didn't mention that your Boss has talked with you or not.
If your Boss hasn't mentioned it to you, it's a very good sign that your Boss lets what they say "go in one ear and out the other".
Tell them something when your co-workers ask you something. Tell them No, or anything. Or, tell them to leave you alone.
The other suggestion about talking with Human Resources is a good one.
I would forget about lawsuits; do you have that much money??
Best of luck.

NeedKarma

In Canada we have safegards to protect against something called a poisoned work environment.

Here is one definition:

"Described by the Ontario Human Rights Commission in its 2004 “Human Rights at Work,” a poisoned workplace becomes “hostile or unwelcoming” to a person because of “insulting or degrading comments or actions” that have been made about that person or about others. A poisoned workplace is intimidating or oppressive to employees."

Fr_Chuck

First in most of the examples you gave, it will be hard to prove that you did not do the things they saying, and if your company has not given you a warning, if your company has not fired you,or if you comany and not refused you a promotion, then you have no real "loss" to sue for.
Normally you will have to show some loss that can be measured in money to sue for.

next I don't want to sound wrong, but this is about what every office in America is like, I worked in the corporate world and the people in various positions lied often, once I lost a job because of it, I left my breifcase on a desk while visiting a factory that my company was over. I guess either the janitor or the manager looked into it and saw my pay stub.
A few weeks latter when they did not like my report, they called my bosses saying I showed them my check and wanted more money if I was paid so much.

I never showed anyone anything, but they knew the figure, so I could not prove I did not show them, my word against thiers, no case that I could win in court. ( and I did try and ended up paying thier legal fees when I lost)

Even in church "politics today" people call the church eldor and tells them did you hear what the pastor did today, or perhaps what I posted on one of these posts. Perhaps that I ate lunch with this person or that person.

By showing up the other girls, they have decided to get your fired, to make them look better, not right, but done every day in America business. You need to talk to the bosses about it and should have long before this.

But in the end, if getting rid of you, will make the business run better, they may even though it is the other three causeing the issues, but getting rid of one is easier than geting rid of three ( not right but what can happen