Wrongfully discharged?

I have been in Sales and Sales Management my entire career and have recently found myself unemployed from what I believe to be unfair practices. I was working in the Cleveland area and had been recruited to work for a company in the Columbus area in a new sales division. I left my position in Cleveland and moved to Columbus (on about two weeks notice) to begin a career with what I thought would be a great company. It was a company that touts in foundation on Christian principles and superior treatment of its employees. Even though I am not the most religious person in the world, it’s hard to find honest and caring companies these days, or at least ones that claim to be. I began living in a hotel until I found a permanent residence and my family remained in Cleveland until my girlfriend was able to find a job in the area. It was a very unique environment to say the least, being that the company employed about 90% women and were in the Direct Sales business, selling purses and organization type items through home parties. I immediately fit in very well, getting along with my co-workers and building very strong relationships with management. It was even mentioned to me that I was being considered for a promotion to Director of my division. Then, one day, my boss came to me and said that I needed to join her for a meeting with HR. When I sat down, I was immediately told that it was brought to their attention that I had said “something offensive” to someone and I was being terminated immediately. This came as a complete shock to me, as I have always conducted myself in the most professional manner at work. When I asked for more detail, all I was told was that an “investigation” had been conducted and if I thought about it hard enough I would know what I did? I was told that they would provide me with compensation for any expenses I incurred while there, but I was terminated immediately and escorted out of the building. That was on April 6, 2011.

In the following months, I fought hard to get an answer from them, and the compensation I was owed. I was constantly ignored and given conflicting statements about the details surrounding my termination. After nearly two months of back and forth, I was finally paid the compensation owed to me (which was simply the amount I paid for my hotel stay there) and received a short and incomplete account of the reason I was terminated. I was told that during a conversation with some of the women from my department, while outside of the office on my own personal time, I said something offensive. When I was terminated, I was never given a direct reason for it nor was I given any written account or statement of my termination. I was also never given an opportunity to defend myself against the allegations or know who had accused me of such a ridiculous offense. They told me that they acknowledged not handling the issue in exactly the right manner, but they were sticking with their decision. I wasn’t sure what I could do, if anything, in the realm of legal action and was told by several employment lawyers that because of the at-will status of Ohio, I didn’t have much to stand on.

However, when I went to apply for Unemployment Compensation I was told that my benefits were in question because the company had filed my termination as “violating the company’s Sexual Harassment policy”? As you can imagine, I was blown away by this. Not only was my livelihood taken away, after I made such sacrifices to be part of the organization, but now I was being classified as violating sexual harassment policy? Now I am left wondering, how is this going to affect future job opportunities and how broad of an impact do allegations like this have? The situation was already taking a toll on my life in every possible way. I have, for a number of years suffered from a debilitating auto-immune disease that is often triggered by extreme amounts of stress. During the months after my termination I became extremely ill, even having to spend more than a week in the hospital, with no insurance and no income. When I moved back to my home in Cleveland, I had to try to explain the details to my girlfriend, which as you can imagine, were met with much speculation but I had her support. Now I am faced with new stress on that relationship as I am forced with explaining why I was accused of violating the Sexual Harassment policy. My entire life has been turned upside down because of FALSE allegations and now I am not sure where to turn?

I appreciate any guidance you can give me on my situation and if there is any legal action I can take.

I also just received a statement from the state unemployment office that they found me to be discharged without just cause because the employer was not able to show any violation of company policy or that I had willfully disregarded any policy.