My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: WI
My question is in regard to defermation of character. I had been in upper management for the same industry and company for over 10 years ( let's call this job # 1). I received numerous letters of recommendation and loved my job. However, I left the company due to being downsized. So I took another position with a different company in the same industry ( job # 2). I was there three months when I was told that they were eliminating my position and let me go - which was a shock to me. However - I thought I would get another positon in the same industry with no problems.
Right away I started interviewing for jobs in this industry and would get great interviews and get as far as wage negotiations when things would go cold. They ( the potential employer ) would just not call me back.
This happened enough that I switched industries for the next 2 1/2 years and took a major cut in pay.
Just recently I started interviewing for jobs in my former industry and got interviews right away. Then the same thing started to happen - it goes cold. This proplexed me so much that I got brave and "pretended" to be a company doing a reference check on myself (via email). OH MY....a woman who is a senior vp at job # 2 said horrible things about me. I don't mean the professional "I would not hire her back" .... I'm talking down right nasty (about my intelligence, my ability etc). The thing is... I never had a lot of interaction with this individual. In addition, the position I had there was never eliminated.
What do I do??? This industry is all about networking and by now she has done serious damage to my reputation.

