Can you go to jail for telling lies about someone to get them to lose their job?

[Anonymous]

This is not about me, but just a question. If someone told lies about you to get you fired, and you got fired, can the person who told lies about you go to jail?

[DaveJord]

No they can not go to jail. See there is no law against lying, unless you commit perjury and you can only do that under very specific circumstances... for example you can only commit perjury if you are under oath, or in official court documents. So the initial lie would not cause you to go to jail, but if you were in court and under oath and you told the same lie then yes you just committed perjury and you could go to jail. But all you would have to do to avoid jury is just say under oath you lied or you can not recall... then there would be no perjury.

In the case that some one told a lie and you got fired for example, then the person who was fired could file a legal lawsuit against the employer for wrongful termination. But that would be a civil court suit not criminal suit, so they might have to pay damages, but they would not go to jail.

The person that told the lie, also could have a liable suit filed against them in a civil trail, and again they could have to pay fines and punitive damages but they would not go to jail. This is what happen to Amber Heard in the Jonny Depp trail.

Chances are the employer would have to pay in the wrongful termination suit... but individuals that told the lie might be suited but if they have no money and are unable to pay the punitive damages the chances of them ever losing money would be extremely low. The cost of paying legal fees for such a trail would far out weight any hope of actually getting the money.

[jshm2]

No. You will get fined for libel and defamation. Just like you saw with Amber Heard.

[EmmaMary]

If it could be categorically and unequivocally proven beyond all reasonable doubt, then there could be a case of slander and defamation of character, which could carry a custodial sentence.

Unfortunately such cases are extremely expensive and seldom come to fruition.

[EmmaMary]

Thank you for the MHGirl.

[WhitneySnow]

No but you can sue them. You gotta prove they were lying though.

[Anonymous]

Its libel / slander which is civil not criminal as far as i know.

So, no prison but they could be made to pay damages and loss of earnings from a job could be a lot of money in damages.

[amber0x]

Doubt it, but the person who got fired could have a lawsuit for defamation and emotional distress...

[Drumlin2001]

Probably not. Depends on the lie. More likely a civil matter

[KostasKouvalis]

That's libel or slander. It really depends on the judge. Some might issue jail time, others might just issue a money fine

[jahaims]

That's defamation of character. That is illegal.

[exitseven]

I would be more worried about losing my life.