Fired, problems following this....

[countrydoe]

I was fired back in 2002 from a job I held for almost a year. I applied for a position with this medical clinic as a receptionist, but when I was interviewed they learned I had experience with medical billing and so they moved the gal who was in this position back out as receptionist and placed me in this position to get them back on track again. I had never worked for a more unorganized, uninformed, unknowledgeable office then this one. No one knew how to run the computer program for the work I needed to do. There was no booklet or information on how to work the program. I called their tech support people and was only given 2-3 hours of help in getting through the areas of the program that I would need to be utilizing to do the work - then I was informed that until my employer paid them the outstanding balance she owed them they could not assist me anymore in any tech support issues with the program. So this posed a problem in completing my work 100%. She then outsourced her billing after 3 months of my doing it in house and it was going fine, but there were back claims that could not be accessed because of the issue of not being able to fully get into areas of the program - it is hard to explain, but definitely issues I was facing among so many others. I did the best I could with the limited resources and equipment needed to do my job at 100%. She brought the claims back in house after 4 more months because these people were not getting her much money coming in - part of the problem there was they were submitting the Medicare claims to the wrong address - they were told many times where the claims in our state had to be sent, but every Medicare explanation of benefits we received were denied because it was sent to the wrong location. This was the bulk of her patient's. So she brought it back in house, she borrowed money and purchased a brand new computer program and 4 new computers and we learned and got that all set up - still issues with all these claims that could not be touched and so much more I am not saying here....but to keep it short and sweet - we submitted our first set of claims on the new program and there were glitches with the clearing house and some of the information - so we got this all ironed out and finally money was coming in - but the gal who was in the position when I was hired wanted it back or some other position other than receptionist - she had the office manager fired because she wanted that position and then when they did not give her that position she underhandedly worked on getting mine telling all kinds of lies and twisting things that she was doing that she shouldn't have and telling them I was doing those things. I was never in all the 11 months I worked there ever pulled aside and talked to about my job performance or how crummy a job I was doing. I was constantly told to be versatile, although I was the only one required to do that! I had worked in other offices and had experience in most of the office positions, but I think it was more than that. Anyway, I was fired out of the blue one day and other than feeling something was up the day it happened, I was blind sided.

Since then I have had trouble when I have placed this employer on my resume and whenever I have I have lost job opportunities because of what she has been saying. In my opinion is it defamation of character because what she has been telling employers is not true. I have received letters from prospective employers who called me for an interview and then sent me a letter stating they would not be needing to see me because of what a previous employer said about me. I had my career counselor call them and pretend to be an employer and she said it was negative, but maybe not enough to win in court. I have had a terrible time finding work and it has definitely ruined my credit because I had not been able to locate work because of this. Some say I should have moved away from here and maybe could have become employed, but I am caring for two elderly parents and they rely on me quite a bit for the things they are unable to do anymore and I just could not leave them - I feel that I am stuck here until they are no longer living and so I need to find work locally. I finally took them off my resume because I had no other choice - every time I had a good job opportunity open to me they ruined it with their lies. And all of these things they have told prospective employers were never things I was talked to about or written up for.

What can I do about this - is there any legal path one can take? She may feel that she has to blame someone for her financial problems while I was employed with her, but I know for a fact she was in a financial bind long before I came into the picture and it angers me she is lying about my work history with her. I worked hard for this woman despite the fact that I did not have the tools at my disposal to do my job effectively and well. I did have an attitude problem before I left there because no matter what I tried to do to get one step ahead in that mess I had layed in my lap - I usually ended up going 2 steps back and wanting to pull my hair out and she was of no help and really did not want to be bothered with any problems. I felt very alone and beyond frustration in this job. I would go home and stress out about what I did or didn't get done - I have also had some health issues every since that job. I feel I have paid a heavy price and am still paying for it. Is there anything I can do to end this problem? Thanks!!

countrydoe

If someone publicly says or writes anything factually untrue and it damages you, you indeed can sue for slander, libel, defamation, interference with business relations etc. -- or at least threaten to do so and give a warning.

The threat alone may cause her to think about saying anything.