My sister-in-law is in a bit of a pickle, and I'm at a loss for advice.
Backstory:
My sister-in-law is a good, hard, honest worker that over the last 10 years has worked her way up from a sales associate position all the way to director of marketing in her company. In her previous job bad blood was created between her and a coworker seemingly due to jealous towards my sister-in-law's charismatic personality, and ability to ascend through the ranks quickly.
EoD Today:
The company was celebrating my sister-in-laws 10 year anniversary when a company wide email was sent accusing her of illegal business activities at her previous company such as laundering, and causing the eventual bankruptcy. The email also contained numerous slanderous statements about my sister-in-law's life style.
The email was sent from outside the company by her ex-coworker who had obtained every employee's email address (most likely from the ex-employee's best friend that works with my sister-in-law).
We really have no idea what to do. The company has already started looking into all of my sister-in-law's accounts, and customer history. Her reputation has been damaged, what can she do to repair this?
Be careful not to make too
Be careful not to make too much of it publicly by denouncing it to all, or sending a group-wide reply to the slanderous email. If you do, you will get into the realms of “The lady protests too much, I think”. It will make it look like there is some truth to it.
Best thing to do is: in public: ignore and more on. In private: take legal action against the person to stop them doing it again
Plus
Full Disclosure: I'm not an attorney nor am I an HR professional. But I'm reminded about the old saying of don't ignore the 800 lb gorilla in the room. Everyone got the email. You can ignore it but human nature, like Mother Nature,abhors a vacuum and people will think the worst. I would suggest that the head of the company send out a company wide email acknowledging it was sent and promising a thorough and complete investigation.
Call HR. Work with them to
Call HR. Work with them to deal with the fallout.
Call an attorney. Work with them to deal with the person who sent it.
The worst part is that the damage is done and it will be very hard to undo.
Thank you for the
Thank you for the suggestions. Legal action has begun against the individual. I'm not sure what they (the executives) are doing to address the issue to the employees, but if I find out I will follow up. As for my sister-in-law, we found it best for her to brush it off and go about business are usual.
Talk softly and carry a big stick
I think that is the quote from Teddy Roosevelt. Assuming that these charges are completly false this is what I would do. First, thing she must do is not react emotionally - that is the talk softly part. Second, hit back hard. That is the big stick.
1. Your sister-in-law should notify her current employers HR and legal department. The employer may want to do an internal investigation just to cover thier backside. I would comply with that investigation and work openly with it. This will confirm that your sister-in-law is doing nothing illegal with the current employer.
2. I would verify if the e-mail was sent from a private e-mail address or from this ex-coworkers current employer. If it was sent by a coprorate e-mail account, I would believe that entagles the current employer of thatt ex-employee into this. Not a lawyer, but that is my guess.
3. I would seek outside legal counsel and make sure your sister-in-laws employer knows you are doing this. If the legal counsel sees a case, I would then file a lawsuit for libel against the ex-coworker. In the United States untrue written comments made with defamatory intent are called libel. Oral comments are slander. If the e-mails are from a corporate e-mail account, your sister-in-law may have the added benefit of being able to go after the company who has deeper pockets and will want to settle this matter quickly. In addition, they would most likely fire this ex-coworker.
4. Lastly, I dont know if a rebuttal to the comments is wise. One could argue that she is "protesting too much" or that her silence just confirms it. A response is more of a personal choice. However, if she does decide to reposnd I would recommend that she have her legal council review and approve any response before it is released.
Good Luck
She needs to smile...
All the stuff above is good. In addition, your sister-in-law needs to smile. Considering how you describe her personality she has probably already figured this out.
All of this is very dramatic, and we humans love drama! She needs to rise above this, hold her head high, smile, and accept that she's the protagonist in some excellent folklore!
--Michael
Agree she needs to smile
We do need a like it click. Michael, i also read the post thinking it reminded me of a brasilian soap opera! Great advice not to be dragged into the drama and keep smiling.
Nara