Human Resource Blog

Can an employee be fired based on hearsay?

I live in Washington State and was fired (nothing illegal) for sleeping on the job, among other accusations. The accusations were made by two of my coworkers (not supervisors) and are false. About a week or so after I was let go these employees filled out written statements attesting to these falsehoods. Is it illegal to be fired due to mere hearsay? I was only told of some of the accusations just recently (2 weeks after being fired) so was not even able to defend myself against them. The employer sent me an email requesting that I not use him as a reference because he will not give me a good one. Thus it is affecting my ability to find work now. Is this legal? If it is not, what recourse do I have? I don’t know if this is relevant but it is a state job.

Thanks

Yes, an employee can be fired on “hearsay” evidence. The rules of evidence that apply to court don’t apply in the workplace. Often an employer will discipline or terminate a worker based on behavior (threats, poor performance, customer complaints) that the employer did not actually witness.

Theoretically, you could find a lawyer who would file a suit against your former coworkers. However, it’s possible that the supervisor feels your performance was lacking even if sleeping on the job was not an issue. It would probably make more sense to find someone other than your former supervisor to use as a reference. Often, the HR department provides neutral references in situations like this.