I worked for a Credit Union for about 1 1/2 yrs in AZ. In March 2008 I was fired but wasn't allowed to leave the C U for approximately 4 hrs. The police were called and when everything was said and done the officer notified my family that I was held against my will. When I got the police report I found out that my ex-employer made false statements about me to get the police there. I didn't get arrested. I wanted to know how would I go about pressing charges against this person for holding me against my will and possibly slander and/or libel? Also how much time do I have to get all this done? The officer that was there that day can give a statement on my behalf. He witnessed everything from them refusing to let me out of the room to them taking my cell phone from my hand and hanging up my calls a few hrs after I was fired.

Hello YAKIE

May I ask on what grounds you were fired, and if you feel that firing was carried out on false grounds : what are these grounds, why was that incorrect, and what did you so far do against that?

See a lawyer. If you can't asfford one, go to the nearest university, to the law department, and discuss it there. Most such departments have a service group handling such cases for free or just a small fee.

Success!

:)

A great deal will depend on why you were fired and the time frame - was the firing related to this incident? If your employer thought he was making true statements (if he wasn't making allegations he knew to be false), if he was merely stating what he believed, then this is not actionable against him.

What are your damages from the incident?

As far as the Police - I don't know where you are but every State has laws concerning running suing a municipality (Government). It's a very short statute and involves putting the municipality on notice that there WILL be a lawsuit. It is not the filing of the actual lawsuit but simply notice because many/most municipalities are self insured.

Did you refuse to talk to the Police, ask for an Attorney? I don't know how they were able to hold you without filing charges. As far as their call to your family, I see no problem there. They were merely notifying the family where you were - although (quite candidly) I don't know why they would do that.

As far as slander/libel I'm quoting myself here:

"Briefly - Generally in law libel refers to permanent/written statements and slander refers to non-permanent/spoken statements. Defamation (of character) covers both categories.

You must be damaged - and prove damages - in order to recover. The statements (either written or spoken) must be false but presented as though they were true and be beyond offensive, derogatory or insulting. Such statement must rise to a level which actually harms a person’s reputation. In general the person making the statement must either know it isn’t true or make the statement without attempting to verify if it is true.

The defense to defamation is that the information was not presented as the truth (which covers gossip), that the information was never secret (privileged) and was always public."

If the officer though you were held against your will, at the scene was when he should have arrested the person, But why did it take four hours to call the police and how did they stop you from leaving, if they actually touched you that would also be assult if you were not being detained because they thought you did a crime.

But you go see the DA about pressing charges.