[Jburgoyne]

A co-worker of mine told my boss that I had apparently told her/him that I was going to bring a gun to work and shot everyone. My boss pulled me in her office with the supervisors and told me about this "rumor" as she put it. She asked me if it was true or not, in which it is not true. I love my job. Wake up every morning happy to go to work. I don't own a gun, never used one (never plan on using one), don't have one in our home and also I'm scared of them. They are dangerouse weapons. I got suspended because of it (with no pay). Was told that they needed to investigate.
I don't know what to do about this. I could lose everything! My house, my car, my life!
What should I do?

[ballengerb1]

See a labor attorney. Are you a union member or under a contract?

[ScottGem]

File suit immediately against the co-worker. That's the best way to show your company that was a malicious accusation.

The problem here is that its hard to prove a negative. You can't prove that you don't have a gun. You can't prove that you had no intentions of doing this. The only thing you can do is have other co-workers give their impression of whether you would or not.

But if you go after the co-worker to have them provide evidence of how they know about this alleged threat, it will show your bosses that there is none.

You also sue the co-worker for your loss of pay while suspended.

I don't think you have a case against your employer. They are acting with due caution. There are too many instances of employees "going postal" for an employer not to take this seriously. However, without any more evidence but a co-workers story, you should not have been suspended without pay.

[AK lawyer]

A co-worker of mine told my boss that I had apparently told her/him that I was going to bring a gun to work and shot everyone. ...

The "apparently" is apparently in the wrong place in the above sentence.

If the co-worker said that you apparently said something to the co-worker makes no sense. So I must assume that what you mean is this: apparently the co-worker said, to your boss, that you had said such-and-such to the co-worker.

Do you know who the co-worker is?

[Jburgoyne]

For AK Lawyer: Yes, that is how I meant it. I should have read it over. But no, I don't know the name of the co-worker. I was told they couldn't tell me, for the co-workers safety.

For ballengerb1: No I'm not a union member, we don't have union at my work place. And for a contract, I'm not sure to be honest. I was just told by my boss that I won't be getting paid and they don't know how long I'll be suspended for.

Would it be a good sign that the cops weren't there at all when they were talking to me about this?

[ScottGem]

Probably, since they didn't think the threat credible enough to call the police. But this is BS about not giving you the co-workers name. All you need to do is file a John Doe suit and subpeona your employer for the name.

Again, if this was a credible threat, then the police should have been contacted. If its not a credible threat, then you should not have been suspended without pay. I can understand the suspension, but not without pay.

And the odd thing about this, is, if you really were the type of person who would "go postal", their actions would contribute to that, not prevent it.

But really, go see an attorney ASAP. They can drag their feet on an investigation ans as long as you are not getting paid, you are getting into a hole.

[ScottGem]

Probably, since they didn't think the threat credible enough to call the police. But this is BS about not giving you the co-workers name. All you need to do is file a John Doe suit and subpeona your employer for the name.

Again, if this was a credible threat, then the police should have been contacted. If its not a credible threat, then you should not have been suspended without pay. I can understand the suspension, but not without pay.

And the odd thing about this, is, if you really were the type of person who would "go postal", their actions would contribute to that, not prevent it.

But really, go see an attorney ASAP. They can drag their feet on an investigation ans as long as you are not getting paid, you are getting into a hole.

[Jburgoyne]

ScotttGem you have point. And I don't understand the suspension with out pay either. But thanks for your advise! I really appreciate it.

[ScottGem]

Good luck and keep us posted.