What should I do?

[dustinar]

I recently have been working for an online company that specializes in Celebrity Autographs.

In order to sell celebrity autographs, the company must first register as a dealer with this prestigious autograph club.

About 2 months ago, my manager was fired and in retaliation, sent an email and divuldged information about the owner and they took our Autograph Membership. The night before her last day, the password on our site was changed, and the owner had to pay quite a bit of money to get it reversed. We all assumed it was the ex-manager. Eventually, the owner and his mother paid my ex-manager to not say anything else to the autograph club as well as any customers.

We started getting emails from customers asking why we were no longer members and it caused a huge headache for all of us still there. They wanted to return things and get refunds etc.

I was terminated from my job and the owner said he knew I was sending emails to the customers to let them know that we are no longer members. (To date, the Autograph Club wont provide the owner with a new application to re-apply). The autograph club posts its members on its website and keeps it updated regularly.

Now the owner wants to press criminal charges against me for ruining his business because "he knows I changed the password, and knows I sent emails to customers."

I never changed the password, and the only thing I said was to one person because they asked me on a blog site if we had our membership taken away. I advised him there was some issues with the name on the membership, and we are currently applying to get a new one at this point. I never said anything negative, or said anything that would have this customer judge us. I still have a copy of the email.

Now legally speaking, is there anything that my ex-boss could do to me? He said he would crucify me in court. But I dont understand as any customer could check the Autograph Member website and see that we are no longer on there.

What should I do?

In terms of pursuing a case against you, your former employer is going to encounter a number of problems. According to your post, there is no tangible evidence that you carried out any of the things that he accusing you of. In addition, no criminal charges have yet been made against you, and no investigations have been made by the police.
From the contents of your post, it would appear that you behaved in the same manner as any responsible employee and your former employer would need to show that you carried out the things that he accuses you of, with some malicious intent.
The termination of your employment is another matter. You may have the right to claim for wrongful termination, although this type of claim can be complicated and time consuming. You would need to prove that you were fired in violation of your legal rights, which is not the same as showing that you were treated unfairly. A good place to start may be your State's labor offices who will be able to advise you.

"ae"