Took a video of my boss saking me - posted it online - now they want to sue me!

Tunney said:
I agree, go down your local CAB and explain the situation.

I'm no lawyer but I believe it's only within the first six months that they can sack you without giving a reason. Talk to the CAB and find out what you can do.

I think you were a bit silly posting the video on Facebook but it's hardly libel. The problem is that defending yourself in court could be expensive. It sounds like another bullying tactic.

At least you're out of the situation. Perhaps you should name and shame the company? :)
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no, its definitely a year.

but i can't see how a video could be libellous -
'In law, defamation (also called calumny, libel, slander, and vilification) is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressively stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image.'

it cannot be false if its a video.

there is no way they can sue for libel, but there is also no way you can sue them for unlawful dismissal.
 
you mentioned constructive dismissal in speaking to her, do you have any evidence to back that up? it would give you a sure fire way to sue them, however if you dont that could be taken as slander if they claim it's false, i would consider taking the video offline, especially if you want to take up legal procedings, it's generally bad form to make things like that open to the public if you're going to use them in court
 
I think they are suffering with credit crunch... why sack 4 people at same time and only keep on part time staff.

They problem with this company is that its family owned... they dont have a natural social way about them - everything is done in a nasty way... they didnt want to pay redunancy money so they sacked us.
 
Constuctive Dissmissal are the things listed below... all the things that Ive suffered under the company....

- Failing to pay wages due.

- Harassment or humiliation, particularly in front of less senior staff.

- Victimisation of the staff member.

- Unilaterally changing the employee’s job content or terms of employment.

- Falsely accusing an employee of misconduct or of not being capable of carrying out their job.

- Undue demotion or disciplinary procedures.

- Sabotage of employee's work product either directly or indirectly with repeated interruption, confusing or inaccurate direction, or uncommunicated deadline changes.

The things they accuse me of they cant back up with a single act.
 
my old company was very similar to yours sounds, the MD had been trying to get my boss to sack me for ages and they were on the brink of reaching a voluntary redundancy payoff agreement because i was very resilient against what they were trying to do, in the end I got offered a better job so I took it.
Gather as much actual evidence of things as you can, see if you can get witnesses willing to testify for you if needed.
you can write that list there ^ but if you have nothing to back it up and they call BS then you've not got a hope
 
XPE said:
You cant just sack people, there has to things like written warnings and so on before they can do that.
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while this is true i think, the redundancy thing isnt, they wouldnt have had to pay you anything because statutory redundancy is 2 years service, and depending on your contract you may have very little notice period so they could make you redundant quite easily, it has to be justifiable though, things like last in first out, least valuable skill set, highest cost to profit ratio
 
yea, libel is if you write/post anything INCORRECT, video by definition cant be libel, unless you "photoshopped" it.... thinks they are trying to scare you into backing down....

IANAL, but i dont know what they can do about covert recording, which this is. Dont know of any specific law that it may breach, since you are also "in" the video, abit in voice only....
 
frosty03 said:
yea, libel is if you write/post anything INCORRECT, video by definition cant be libel, unless you "photoshopped" it.... thinks they are trying to scare you into backing down....

IANAL, but i dont know what they can do about covert recording, which this is. Dont know of any specific law that it may breach, since you are also "in" the video, abit in voice only....
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posting the video isnt libellous, however the things he said in the video may be slanderous, seeing as he is now saying them to the world rather than just to his boss, i'm not certain on the legality of it myself but that seems to be where you may have shot yourself in the foot, and i would remove the video while you look into what you're planning on doing
 
You are allowed to record footage with yourself in it without other party's permission. Same goes for phone conversations, regular conversations, staff meetings. As long as the footage or material isn't used for commercial purposes, you don't have to inform the other party. Most of us remember police comissioner Sir Ian Blair recording his conversation with Lord Goldsmith (2005 was it?) and the media shabang around it. The defence was, that however unethical it might seem, it is not illegal for individuals to tape or record conversations providing the recording is for their own use.

So unless they somehow prove original poster gained financially on making the recording available they don't have much of a legal ground to stand on...
 
XPE said:
You cant just sack people, there has to things like written warnings and so on before they can do that.
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if you haven't worked for over a year then you have no employment rights and they can sack you whenever they want - as long as it doesn't break the law (i.e. discrimination based on colour etc..).
 
aardvark said:
if you haven't worked for over a year then you have no employment rights and they can sack you whenever they want - as long as it doesn't break the law (i.e. discrimination based on colour etc..).
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i cant see anything for or against having to give warnings etc, that may be internal policy, however a copy of the policy should be within your contract as it's something you agree to by signing it

http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/tiscali/empq11.html
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/DG_10026696

look through, those, speak to CAB and remove the video from youtube
 
Remove the video.

If you want to play dirty, upload the video after the affair has been dealt with.

You have dealt with it in a very professional manner in the video, don't spoil it by having it online until you have sorted the issue and their arses have been kicked. :)
 
Rogue Traders etc record and play videos of other dodgy companies all the time; they threaten to get sued, but I imagine it never actually happens, as it is all genuine.

I would still remove the video though, as it may still count against you, legal or illegal. They know you have video evidence and that's all that matters.

You can indeed covertly record an audio conversation without informing the other person as long as it is not shared to a thrid party; I have that act saved somewhere.
 
do NOT engage in any written communication with them, or if you do, ensure they are all marked "without prejudice", just in case things end up in court.....

Good luck..... FWIW, if you stand by the things you said, and you are confident you didnt say anything you cant back up or is untrue, then leave it on youtube..... but i do say, i like some of the other suggestions above.... take your pick...
 
Vegetarian said:
Constuctive Dissmissal are the things listed below... all the things that Ive suffered under the company....

- Failing to pay wages due.

- Harassment or humiliation, particularly in front of less senior staff.

- Victimisation of the staff member.

- Unilaterally changing the employee’s job content or terms of employment.

- Falsely accusing an employee of misconduct or of not being capable of carrying out their job.

- Undue demotion or disciplinary procedures.

- Sabotage of employee's work product either directly or indirectly with repeated interruption, confusing or inaccurate direction, or uncommunicated deadline changes.

The things they accuse me of they cant back up with a single act.
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It makes you wonder if this is the real reason there is such a problem with benefit fraud and the high amount of unemployed people. The goverment want people to work but why would anybody willingly walk into this kind of enviroment?

This company isnt a one off, there are loads like this up and down the country.
 
ElectroBlaster said:
It makes you wonder if this is the real reason there is such a problem with benefit fraud and the high amount of unemployed people. The goverment want people to work but why would anybody willingly walk into this kind of enviroment?

This company isnt a one off, there are loads like this up and down the country.
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Small family run companies do tend to be succeptable to this, especially in cases like my last employer where the company had been built up by an individual, who wasn't the best employer but was reasonably fair, and then basically given to his son when dad retired, the son being an absolute **** on the biggest power trip i've ever seen, he really thought nothing of firing anyone, at any level because he took a disliking to them, regardless of how well they were performing or how much money they made for his company
 
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