Fired because of customer service survey

[lake girl]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? SC

Can I be fired for one negative customer service response? An ex answered a customer service text survery about my service at a retail phone store. Acting as a regular customer, my ex responded that I "was inappropriate and flirted with married person." My ex has since retracted this statement, but I am being fired. Is a text survey valid cause for termination?

 

[CTU]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? SC

Can I be fired for one negative customer service response? An ex answered a customer service text survery about my service at a retail phone store. Acting as a regular customer, my ex responded that I "was inappropriate and flirted with married person." My ex has since retracted this statement, but I am being fired. Is a text survey valid cause for termination?

They can fire you for any reason not prohibited by law, or for no reason whatsoever.

In other words, nothing illegal happened here.

 

[quincy]

It is preferred on this forum that all related questions are kept to one thread. Here is a link to the first thread you started: https://forum.freeadvice.com/libel-slander-defamation-88/can-i-sued-defammation-627980.html

I agree with CTU that you can be fired over a negative complaint whether the complaint is true or false. A false complaint can, however, spawn a defamation claim against the person who filed it.

 

[Zigner]

"Flirting" and "inappropriate" are very subjective. I don't know that a defamation claim can be supported just on that. The fact that the OP is being terminated even after the comments were retracted leads me to believe that the store has other motivations for the termination.

 

[quincy]

"Flirting" and "inappropriate" are very subjective. I don't know that a defamation claim can be supported just on that. The fact that the OP is being terminated even after the comments were retracted leads me to believe that the store has other motivations for the termination.

Although I agree that "flirting" and "inappropriate" are subjective, "inappropriate" calls into question the moral fitness of an individual, and both the "flirting with a married person" and being "inappropriate with a married person" also calls into question the professionalism of an employee.

Whether a court would determine a statement of this sort to be defamatory per se or defamatory per quod, or whether a court would decide there was no supportable defamation at all, is hard to tell. If false statements communicated to a third party result in a firing, however, it generally can be worth an attorney's review.


(as a note similar to the one made by Zigner in the Defamation thread: There is a difference between how lake girl has presented her legal concern in the two threads she started)

 

[lake girl]

As I said previously, I was trying to understand both sides of the issue. When the customer service survey was answered, we thought that thousands of surveys are submitted each day and didn't really give it a second thought. The phone service's corporate manager has been contacted via email and was told that the substandard review and negative statement should be retracted and that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee. Is there anything that can legally be done by the employee or the phone company against the person/phone number who submitted the customer service survey?

 

[Zigner]

As I said previously, I was trying to understand both sides of the issue. When the customer service survey was answered, we thought that thousands of surveys are submitted each day and didn't really give it a second thought. The phone service's corporate manager has been contacted via email and was told that the substandard review and negative statement should be retracted and that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee. Is there anything that can legally be done by the employee or the phone company against the person/phone number who submitted the customer service survey?

Are you trying to say that you are not EITHER of the parties?

 

[Just Blue]

As I said previously, I was trying to understand both sides of the issue. When the customer service survey was answered, we thought that thousands of surveys are submitted each day and didn't really give it a second thought. The phone service's corporate manager has been contacted via email and was told that the substandard review and negative statement should be retracted and that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee. Is there anything that can legally be done by the employee or the phone company against the person/phone number who submitted the customer service survey?

Ask an attorney.

 

[quincy]

As I said previously, I was trying to understand both sides of the issue. When the customer service survey was answered, we thought that thousands of surveys are submitted each day and didn't really give it a second thought. The phone service's corporate manager has been contacted via email and was told that the substandard review and negative statement should be retracted and that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee. Is there anything that can legally be done by the employee or the phone company against the person/phone number who submitted the customer service survey?

You never said anywhere that you were trying to understand both sides of the issue.

Businesses that use customer surveys to make firing decisions are probably making a mistake. People lie all the time on surveys.

 

[cbg]

However, the fact remains that whether they are making a mistake by doing so or not, they are legally allowed to do so. On the basis of the information available to us, no laws were violated and the fired employee's best option is to file for unemployment and start sending out her resume.

 

[lake girl]

Last question, I promise! Is there any legal course of action the phone company or customer service employee can take against the person who submitted the survey if the substandard review and negative statement have been retracted and recommended that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee.

Thanks all for advice.

 

[quincy]

Last question, I promise! Is there any legal course of action the phone company or customer service employee can take against the person who submitted the survey if the substandard review and negative statement have been retracted and recommended that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee.

Thanks all for advice.

If it is "recommended that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee," this is a recommendation only. It does not preclude the filing of a lawsuit, should someone wish to ignore the recommendation. And it does not preclude the firing of the employee for submitting the false review or firing the employee about whom the false review was made.

 

[cbg]

If either the employer or the employer wants to sue, there is no law barring them from doing so. On the basis of the information provided to us, the chances of either of them prevailing in a lawsuit is slim at best.

 

[Shadowbunny]

As I said previously, I was trying to understand both sides of the issue. When the customer service survey was answered, we thought that thousands of surveys are submitted each day and didn't really give it a second thought. The phone service's corporate manager has been contacted via email and was told that the substandard review and negative statement should be retracted and that there should not be any negative repercussions for the customer service employee. Is there anything that can legally be done by the employee or the phone company against the person/phone number who submitted the customer service survey?

What do you THINK they could do to a customer who leaves a (supposedly) false response to a survey? And even if the survey was "retracted," I would think that your employer would fire you for being immature and causing drama, if nothing else.