James, Kinkaid, the owner of the Kinkaid Company was convinced by Douglas Shaw,

Question

James, Kinkaid, the owner of the Kinkaid Company was convinced by Douglas Shaw, one of his employees, that a fellow worker, Miller, had been stealing money from the company. During a break in the company's conference room, Kinkaid fired Miller in front of other workers, accused him of stealing from the company, searched through his brief case over his objections, and finally forcibly escorted him to his office to await the arrival of the police, which he had his assistant summon. Miller was indicted for embezzlement but subsequently was acquitted upon establishing his innocence. What rights, if any, does Miller have against Kinkaid?

Explanation / Answer

Miller has the right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures according to the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. Here the employer has violated the same and searched Miller’s briefcase against his objections. It is an unreasonable search as the employer does not have any proof for theft other than Douglas Shaw’s words and later the blame was proved wrong and Miller was acquitted. It is a clear invasion of Miller’s reasonable expectation of privacy and the employer can only search the bag if it is included in their employment contract with employee’s consent. Also the employer should search the bag after getting consent from Miller in a private location in front of the designated company representatives and not in front of all the other employees. Miller can sue Kinkaid for emotional distress based on his act of searching in front all the employees and wrong allegations. He can also sue Kinkaid for false imprisonment for forcibly escorting Miller to office to wait the arrival of police when he was not guilty at all.

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