I am looking at suing my former employer for defamation of character. I am an accountant and gave my 3 weeks notice due to one of my bosses berating me and accusing me of funnelling funds which was not true. They accepted my resignation however they would not allow me to work my 3 weeks notice and indicated that they would pay me out. Being an accountant with signing authority, I understand them not wanting me to work my notice period and can even understand that they would audit the records. The problem I am facing is that they have not told anyone, not even co-workers that I quit. One day I'm there, next I'm not... there are now rampant rumors (I live in a small town) that I was fired for embezzling funds. Can I sue my former employer for defamation for failure to say anything and allowing people to assume that I was fired?

You can't sue them for defamation unless they specifically said that you did something you did not, or didn't do something you should have, etc. You should call the company, however, or a person you know from work, and ask them to talk to the other employees and clear things up.

Hello pat:

Defamation is lying. There's no law that says they HAVE to say something.

excon

You could contact the former employer and ask them to issue a press release for the local paper. Before getting into all the scuffling, see if you can get a favorable recommendation from your manager.