I was wrongfully fired, and descriminated against, can I sue?

Question

I worked for a University in admissions for 3 yrs and been on several teams and I was very successful on all. The last team I was on was working under someone that was dating a co-worker on the same team and she was not doing her job under SOP. That caused a conflict of interest with me and my student. She tried to stop his enrollment because he responded mean but I asked my boss (her boyfriend) to interviene. He said it is out of his hands. The student went over her head to upper management and now is a student. I somehow got a final written warning for this. I never had one before with this company. Within a weeks time after that a tech created a hostile situation for me but I walked away from it. He went to that same boss and reported I cursed and confronted him. The boss biasly believed him and did not come to me. I had to go to HR myself with witnesses that cleared me. On the same day I was cleared, I was fired for a comedy email I sent to my friends that was sent to me. Help!

Thanks everyone for your info and it really helps to get over it. However for those that are not understanding the email thing is this. That email was from someone else in the company that always sends them out. How is it nothing happened to her but I am the fall guy? Is that descrimination or poor equal opprotunity? The University is not specific on "termination" of employees for emails but again I am someone that did not get written up. When I say descrimination I mean I was targetted for whatever reason by my previous boss. The other bosses thought the same and tried to get me back on thier teams (still in progress). When it comes to the interoffice affairs, I really did not care as long as it does not effect the team and in this case it did and ultimately my job. I do not "rumor" I work hard please do not assume guys. I do know company SOP because I have been supervisor as well. I just want to know if this seemed fair and equal? Thanks for all positive feed back.

Answer 1

If you violated company policy about use of the e-mail for personal mail then they have grounds based on that. Proving the termination was based on discrimination will be pretty hard if they can show you violated that policy. I would recommend to you to move on to your next job opportunity and put this one behind you. Interoffice dating, interdepartment dating is always a problem, no matter who the employer is.

Answer 2

Colleges are notoriously terrible places to work and it seems everyone works at screwing up everyone else instead of trying to be helpful and productive or so it seemed to me. You just got caught in the wash. You have learned an expensive lesson about office politics. You have also learned that a business computer is for business only. When you spend time reading personal email and passing it on, it is stealing from the company and most places you get fired. Many places monitor email just to see what is being said and what web sites you go to on company time. Whenever you want to get rid of someone, there is your reason. The last lesson is that when management decides to get rid of you, you may as well be out there looking for another job because (1) they will get rid of you and (2) it's easier to get a job when you have a job. Did the university make it very clear to everyone that personal use of their computers would result in firing? You can cause a hassle if they didn't. It sounds like you should be glad to be gone.
And discrimination charges are not based on anything you stated. Discrimination charges can only be filed if you were discriminated against because of race, religion, . . .you can look it up on line.

Answer 3

I don't see any discrimination here. As to the wrongfully firing, it depends on if you are at a public University or a private one. Generally, if it is private and you do not have any contract, they can fire you at any time for any reason. If the school is public, you may have some chance of getting someplace -- assuming that you are stating the facts correctly and there is no record of the other situations -- UNLESS there is a policy on e-mail. They may have had "cause" just for you sending personal e-mail (a joke is personal, even if it is within the workplace).

Answer 4

Your supervisor used the computer use as an excuse to relieve you of your duties !! It does not sound to me as though you have a legitimate EOE complaint !! If you feel the injustice is to great to bear be advised the ACLU won't help you. They seem to "pounce upon" things so inconsequential 90 % of the time that whan a REAL complaint surfaces they will not accept it !! As to Human Resources, Whose pocket do you think they are in ?? If you do retain a lawyer "It ain't gonna be cheap" Best move on with the opinion that your former employer just lost a valuable asset !!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

If you are in a "Right to work" state, the answer is "If you want to, but you WILL lose". Your employer is under no more "legal" obligation to continue employing you than you are to keep working there...

The lesson to be learned here is that life is mostly about politics....it was hardly politic* of you to "ask your boss to intervene", was it?

Answer 6

I suggest you move on. Remember that you were recruited to get the job done and not to find out who's done the wrong thing or not following SOP. Your storyline is weak to sue.

Answer 7

Well, I think you left some information out of you story because it doesn't make sense.

From what I am able to decipher...when people are having affairs at work, it's best to stay out of it and not gossip about it, because it causes nothing but trouble.

Answer 8

Unfortunately, the comedy e-mail might be enough to do it. If you were made aware that their computer system was exclusively for business purposes, they may have some leverage here. I would still seek legal council in this case.