my employer told another employee that i was committing fraud to unemployment insurance

You don't say what the boss' claim was. Obviously, you are working so it is not immediately clear how you could be perpetrating a fraud, unless you are receiving unemployment while you are working? If you are correct, that you are not violating the unemployment laws, then your boss may have been slandering you. It would depend on what was said and whether your boss had a right to be telling your coworker what was said. Defamation in the employment context can be a little more complicated to analyze. The fact that you were fired immediately upon your confrontation with the boss suggests that the boss was angry. Was it because the boss didn't like the manner of your confrontation or was it because of the fact that you caught him/her in a lie, or was it both?

Whether you have a basis for a wrongful discharge against public policy is a question that could bear more study. You don't give enough facts to determine whether the employer's right to fire for any or no reason can be overridden.

posted by Reagan Weaver  |  Jun 19, 2011 1:32 PM [EST]