A cautionary tale: Employer liable for defamation
How should an employer proceed when an employee is suspected of theft?
Very carefully, says the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Yesterday, the court in Gambardella v. Apple Health Care upheld a $224,000 defamation award against a nursing home that had fired Laurie Gambardella after she had taken two chairs from the room of a resident who had died from a heart attack.
According to the court, Gambardella lost her job even though the deceased resident’s relative later confirmed that the woman’s personal property had been left to Gambardella to keep or dispose of as she wished.
The nursing home had a policy against employees receiving gifts from residents, but the facility’s administrator carelessly communicated to others that Gabardella had been terminated due to theft.
In determining that the employer acted with actual malice, the court remarked that it is “axiomatic that a defendant who closes his eyes to the facts before him cannot insulate himself from a defamation charge merely by claiming that he believed his unlikely statement.”
— Pat Murphy
