Question: A supervisor was accused of sexual harassment by one of his subordinates. After an investigation, the company fired him. Contending that he was innocent, the supervisor sued his former employer, contending among other things that, since his efforts to find a new job required him to "self-publicize"the company's stated reason for his termination and that reason (sexual harassment) was false, his former employer was guilty of the tort of defamation. Can the tort of defamation lie against an employer when it is the plaintiff/employee who is communicating the defamatory information to third parties?
Assuming that as a technical matter the elements of the tort of defamation are all present in such a case, are there any public policy reasons you can think of that argue against a state supreme court recognizing a cause of action for defamation based upon admitted "self-publication" by the plaintiff/employee? See Gonsalves v. Nissan Motor Corp. [2002 WL 31670451 (Hawaii Supreme Ct. 2002)].