Myself and a few coworkers started a private group chat on Facebook to discuss workplace issues. The entire conversation was screenshotted and given to our manager who later wrote us all up for defamation. Is this legal? It wasn’t public and all who were involved are employees who are already aware of the issues being discussed. I thought private meant private.
Rita Risser Chai replies:
As soon as you talk to one other person, it’s not private anymore. Defamation, legally, is making an untrue statement about someone to even one person. If you all made false statements about others, or even if you made true statements that put them in a “false light,” you may have acted illegally. The courts have consistently held that private online groups also can create a hostile environment for the people being talked about. Your manager acted reasonably to stop the behavior.
Posted 12-17-2019
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.