Ask Me Help Desk - Ex employer retaliation

I live in Texas and I am a truck driver that hauls cars. I recently had to quite working for an employer after only driver for her for about 2 months. It became apparent to me that she was not stable in her business or her personal life. She was going through a really messy divorce and allowed that to interfere with how she handled the business. Her checks started bouncing and she said she could not pay me until she got paid (and cleared). After sitting at home for about 2 weeks and not hearing from her or having her return my calls I decided take my old trucking job back. Since then she has called my current employer trying to find out where I am working and to call me every name in the book. ( I know this because she is currently doing this to 2 other former drivers that used to work for her and had to quite because of her).
She has told them and my wife that I have abandoned her truck (this is damaging because in my line of work it is very difficult to get a job if you've abandoned a truck). I left her truck in her front yard just as she said because she needed to have work done to it. I had to drive my personal vehicle 1 hour to my home. I had a company phone that she provided and she has listened to all my personal voice messages and she recently got all my family and friend's personal numbers off her bill and contacted them to tell them what she heard on these personal messages. Now she is calling my home and harassing my wife.

I would like to know if I have a solid case for harassment and defamation of character against her.. Thank you!

I'm not in Texas but the Police can tell you if you have a case for harassment - defamation of character occurs if someone BELIEVES what she is saying and it harms your reputation. Depending on where this goes from here a Police Report is always good, solid evidence. If this is how she operates and people are aware and pay no attention to her it is NOT defamation. I would think a letter from an Attorney would keep her quiet but sometimes all that does is inflame the situation.

As far as the phone - did you have permission to use it for other than company business? I would "guess" this will be her reply. It was her phone, you did not have permission to use it for personal calls. I'm not saying that will make any difference if she is defaming you but it probably will be her defense.

Sounds like a nightmare! I wish you luck and wish I knew Texas law!

Sounds like it. Take it to an attorney and see what they say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dturner68

I live in Texas and I am a truck driver that hauls cars. I recently had to quite working for an employer after only driver for her for about 2 months. It became apparent to me that she was not stable in her business or her personal life. She was going through a really messy divorce and allowed that to interfere with how she handled the business. Her checks started bouncing and she said she could not pay me until she got paid (and cleared). After sitting at home for about 2 weeks and not hearing from her or having her return my calls I decided take my old trucking job back. Since then she has called my current employer trying to find out where I am working and to call me every name in the book. ( I know this because she is currently doing this to 2 other former drivers that used to work for her and had to quite because of her).
She has told them and my wife that I have abandoned her truck (this is damaging because in my line of work it is very difficult to get a job if you've abandoned a truck). I left her truck in her front yard just as she said because she needed to have work done to it. I had to drive my personal vehicle 1 hour to my home. I had a company phone that she provided and she has listened to all my personal voice messages and she recently got all my family and friend's personal numbers off her bill and contacted them to tell them what she heard on these personal messages. Now she is calling my home and harrassing my wife.

I would like to know if I have a solid case for harassment and defamation of character against her.. Thank you!

Thank you for the quick response! Yes, you can say that I am very angry but I also would like to show her that she can't get away with what she is doing to all her employees. I have a friend that quite just before I worked with her and he is going through much worse with me. He was driving her truck and told her that it needed some repair to the tires because they were bad. She insisted that she knows her truck and that he needed to drive (she really needed the money). Well, he had a blow out that caused some damage and now she blames him and is calling all his friends and employee telling them that he owes her money. She eventually had him black listed and has given a very horrible reference when being called upon by potential employers. How he found out was that he was already set to go work for this one trucking company but the manager called and said that his previous employer called and sent him a 10 page email as to why they should not hire him. It was completely unprofessional. He's tried to get on at several other trucking companies but it's all the same thing. Finally, he went back to work at an old company only because the owner knows how this lady is.

She is trying to do the same thing to me because again, she is calling around to my family and friends just to find out where I am working. Yesterday (11/01/07) the owner of my current company called to tell me that she called the job yesterday a total of 6 times speaking with him, his wife and a few of the dispatchers there about me. Then my oldest brother called to say that he just had a call from her as well with her yelling and making obscene comments about me and my wife. She is blaming me for quitting on her and leaving her without a driver. She is telling my current employer that I left her truck fully loaded and it caused her to lose a lot of money. She is making all of the phony accusations that is hurting my reputations and possible future employment contacts. I just would like to know what can I do?

I did take your advise and made an appointment with an Attorney to go over my situation. But it would comforting to know anything that would help me in the mean time. I thank you all in advance for any comments.

There is nothing much that can help except to document, document, document! You need to get statements from people she has called, proof of the constant calls. etc.

The first thing your attorney will probably do is send her a cease and desist letter. Hopefully that will scare her into stopping. If it doesn't then you will need to start going through the courts.

Thanks! I guess my next step is to file a report with the police department (now my employer is getting very annoyed with the whole thing) and meet with the attorney on Monday. I have learned from the past to always document everything. Thanks again for answering my questions in a timely manner. You've been very helpful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

There is nothing much that can help except to document, document, document! You need to get statements from people she has called, proof of the constant calls. etc.

The first thing your attorney will probably do is send her a cease and desist letter. Hopefully that will scare her into stopping. If it doesn't then you will need to start going through the courts.

I absolutely agree - document; I don't know what the laws are concerning taping phone conversations in Texas but I would ask the Attorney; a Police Report is always helpful. You may need an investigator to speak to potential witnesses to get some statements. This woman really does sound out of touch with reality and like she's on a vendetta.

The other side of this is - if I ask for an employment recommendation and the previous employer rants and raves and gets into personal info about the employee I assume the problem is with the employer and not the employee and give the employee a chance. I realize you are driving truck and your situation is different -