Under New Jersey criminal law, an individual who is charged with a crime is presumed to be innocent. Unfortunately, many people fail to apply that same standard to their own treatment of the accused. Instead, they listen to one site of the story, make assumptions based on limited or wrong information, and fail to give the accused an opportunity to defend themselves. These situations may include employers who, in blindly taking the side of the claimed victim or thinking they are protecting themselves from potential lawsuits, terminate the accused employee.
Although employers are generally permitted terminate employees on an at-will basis, which may include accused employees, employees who are careless in deciding to terminate an employee accused of a crime may find themselves with financial liability if the accused employee is found to be innocent. In these situations, the accused but innocent employee may have civil legal claims against their employer. Two of these potential claims, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress are discussed below.
Defamation
According to Merriam-Webster, defamation is “the act of communicating false statements about a person that injure the reputation of that person.” In New Jersey, individuals may sue others for defamation, although the standard for winning the lawsuit can be quite high. For example, an individual who wrongly faced Aggravated Assault Charges was fired by the employers, would have prove their employer defamed them by showing “1) the employer knew the statements were false or acted in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity; 2) the statements were made for a purpose that was contrary to the interests of the qualified privilege; or 3) the statements were published excessively.” See Griffin v. Tops Appliance City, Inc., 337 N.J. Super. 15, 21 (App. Div. 2001)
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
New Jersey recognizes that an employee may recover damages resulting from another their employer’s intentional infliction of emotional distress. See Taylor v. Metzger, 152 N.J. 490, 508-21 (1998). To provide intentional infliction of emotional distress:
the plaintiff must establish intentional and outrageous conduct by the defendant, proximate cause, and distress that is severe. Initially, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly. For an intentional act to result in liability, the defendant must intend both to do the act and to produce emotional distress. Liability will also attach when the defendant acts recklessly in deliberate disregard of a high degree of probability that emotional distress will follow.
Second, the defendant’s conduct must be extreme and outrageous. The conduct must be “so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.” Third, the defendant’s actions must have been the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s emotional distress. Fourth, the emotional distress suffered by the plaintiff must be “so severe that no reasonable man could be expected to endure it.”
See Buckley v. Trenton Saving Fund Society, 111 N.J. 355, 366-67 (N.J. 1988)
Winning civil claims requires significant evidence
Just like with defending criminal complaints, civil claims are one or lost based on the evidence presented to the jury. The main difference, however, is that as the plaintiff in a civil claim, it is on the accused employee to provide their case. Moreover, because winning defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuits are very difficult, quality evidence is essential. For example, intentional infliction of emotional distress requires more than feeling bad and having a rough time after losing their job is not enough to win. In one intentional infliction of emotional distress case, an individual lost because:
plaintiff did not show even through his own testimony that he had headaches, difficulty in sleeping or an incapacity to perform his normal daily routine, or that his emotional upset continued for any substantial period of time following the discharge. Most significantly, plaintiff did not seek any medical assistance for his alleged emotional distress or present any expert medical opinion to show he suffered severe psychological effects as a result of his discharge.
Griffin v. Tops Appliance City, Inc., 337 N.J. Super. 15, 26-27 (App. Div. 2001)
Thus, an employee who is fired because they are accused of a crime must be prepared to have testimony and documentary evidence sufficient to support their civil claims.
Conclusion
To be accused of a crime you didn’t commit can be destining in many ways. This may be exacerbated by being terminated by an employer who jumped to the wrong conclusion. In New Jersey, there are legal claims an innocent employee may have against their employer such as defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, winning these lawsuits are not easy.
If an accused but innocent employee is considering whether to file a civil lawsuit against their employee, it is important they recognize what they are getting themselves into. First, winning defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress are not easy. Thus, all the time and effort pursuing the claim may result in losing. Second, just like criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits take a lot of time and effort. An accused but innocent employee must be prepared and willing to deal with the emotional strain of a lawsuit for a second time.
