Is it possible to be a &quot;derivative&quot; party to a slander suit?
<p>Suppose you are an employer. Employee A accuses B of committing a "firing offense." You fire B on A's say-so, without investigating to see if the charge is true. Maybe you trust, or even like A more than B.</p>

<p>It turns out that A slandered B, who is <em>not</em> guilty of a "firing offense." B can sue A for slander. Can B sue you for acting on A's slander in 1) an "employment at will" state and 2) a state where there is no employment at will?</p>

<p>And are there any western countries where the above facts would <em>not</em> support liability for slander, and therefore you could not be named in a derivative suit?</p>

<p>This question was inspired by this <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/72933/im-a-grad-student-and-im-being-threatened-by-a-undergrad-student-in-my-lab">one</a> on Academia, where the OP did not disclose his country.</p>

<p>Does the employer then go on to say "we fired the employee for such-and-such" when contacted by potential future employers, or otherwise make the fact of the firing publicly known?<br>
If so, the employer may be committing defamation against B to a third party, which negatively impacts B's likelihood of getting another job.<br>
If no, the employer seems to be lacking a necessary element of defamation, namely the making of a statement about B to a third party. </p>

<p>No. Defamation means that party A makes a false statement about party B to party C. In this case, the employer didn't make any statement about the employee to anyone - the employer simply terminated the employment.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/what-states-are-at-will-employment-states-ps.rl" rel="nofollow">All states have at will employment</a>, but some states do have something called the "good faith exemption," which means that employees must be fired for cause. In a state that has this exemption, the employee could make an argument for wrongful termination. However, under no circumstances could the employee sue the employer for defamation.</p>

employment slander