Employer grabbed me out of anger
I was recently asked to resign. As I was cleaning out my desk my director watched. She became very agitated while i did. I went to my computer to delete any personal emails. She told me no and turned off the monitor. I told her she could watch I would not delete anything business related and i turned it back on. She then grabbed my wrist and tried to pull the mouse out of my hand while also trying to push me aside. She screamed at me to get out as she ran to the base of the computer to turn it off. I did nothing in response. I was upset by her actions and I left. I feel her grabbing me was out of line and a progression of abusive behaviour on her part. Do I have a case against her? She is out of control.
1 answer | asked Oct 19, 2001 1:12 PM [EST] | applies to Arizona
Answers (1)
Your supervisor commited what is known at common law as battery. Battery is an intentional unwanted physical touching. The problem is that if she did not physically injure you, your chance of recovering any significant amount of damage is slight. You probably won't find a lawyer willing to take such a case without charging more than you would likely recover. You might consider filing a claim on your own in the justice court. The small claims division does not allow lawyers to participate. It's kind of like "Judge Judy." The small claims court can only consider claims up to $2,500.00.
The company that employed you might also be liable, although the damage issue is the same. Normally a supervisor who commits an intentional tort (wrongful act) is presumed to be acting outside the scope of the authority given her by the company, but since she was trying to keep you from deleting information from the computer, you may be able to prove that she was acting within the scope of implied authority given her by the company. If she was told to preserve whatever was on the computer and not let you destroy it, this would certainly strengthen your argument. The only purpose in holding the company liable would be to be sure there was money available to pay whatever judgment you might get. Of course, this would also prevent the supervisor from keeping her behavior a secret from her managers, and might lead to some corrective action that would protect the next person in such a situation.
Good luck.
posted by Francis Fanning | Oct 22, 2001 12:53 PM [EST]
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