My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Oklahoma
It is hard to explain the situation without telling the story, so here is the short.
A co-worker and myself are very good friends. (Her being female, myself male)
One evening, after getting off work, spending several hours at the bar she asked if i thought she was butch. I answered the question, not really butch but more one of the guys rather than one of the girls. Her response was to ask if anyone thought she was a lesbian. My response was simple, well are you? We laughed and joked about it pretty much all night, nothing to it as giving each other a hard time is a constant with us.
Well, today i get to work, called into the office and find out that i have been terminated for sexual harrassment. I immediatly call my coworker(friend) and apologise and inquire why she didnt let me know the comment offended her. She (in tears by the way) said she filed no such complaint, and has absolutely no problem with our joking and the incident at hand.
What had happened was, while speaking with one of the other women at work, she asked if she thought she was a lesbian, the womans reply was no, why? Laughingly she then stated that i had asked, and she was curious if everyone thought that. She left it there, thinking nothing more of it than girl gossip.
The other coworker took it on herself to take the instance (out of context) to my boss, who informed me he had no other alternative than to let me go to avoid legal issues.
There are no underlying reasons to let me go. I have worked here five years, run my department in teh black every year, and my raises and promotions speak to my value to the company. So there is only this reason alone to let me go.
Now my questions are:
1. Can i legally be terminated for sexual harrassment without a complaint from the coworker. And on that same note, can the second coworker file the complaint just from her conversation with my coworker.
2. This happened off of the clock, away from work, after obviously way too many drinks together. Does it matter that it happened off the clock and away from work.
My biggest concern isnt losing my job. I am very well qualified to replace it at any time, but my biggest fear is this reason i may have to give for termination on future resumes and the affect that it will have. I have worked with women my entire career, and know where the line is. But in a friendship where giving each other a hard time is a daily routine and after hours i never gave a second thought to that line, you can bet i will in the future.
Any thoughts our advise will be extremely helpful and appreciated.
Thanks

