Accused of Leaking Information About a Recruit

[madduxr6]

Recently there has been a lot of movement between firms in the town I live in for financial professionals. Mostly because of the sale of one company to another and people leaving. I work at a firm where recruiting new employees is competitive against other firms. My employer is recruiting a new hire and it happens I am involved within a sports organization with the manager at the other firm. He asked me a few months ago if we were hiring or interviewing recruits. I told him we always were looking for new people and that we had someone starting next week. In fact he himself was potentially going to move to our firm. To let you know, I do not know the recruit nor did I ever hear his name until I was approached by my manager to ask if I leaked the information. The manager of the other firm told the recruit that I leaked his name to him during our previous conversation and this is completely false. I feel he only used my name since everyone knows we are involved in this organization together. Now, the recruit may be fired at his job at the old firm and I may lose my job if we get sued by the recruit. Can I sue the other firm and the manager for defamation if I am terminated over this? Can I sue them regardless of termination? Indiana

[Mr. Knowitall]

How did the person find out about the recruit's name, if not from you? If you sue somebody for defamation you have the initial burden of proof that whatever they said was false.