Can I sue my employer for creating a hostile work environment by slandering me in front of my employees?

Ok, let's start with one mistaken premise. There is no general "hostile work enviornment" law either state or federal. The concept of a "hostile work enviornment" is tied to alleged discrimination and/or retaliation based upon a claim of discrimination. From the brief facts you provided, I do not see a "hostile work enviornment" claim. However, if your boss made false statements of fact to the employees, you may have a defamation claim against the employer. Also, since the statements included accusations regarding your business reputation, you may have a claim of defamation per se which permits you to proceed without proof of actual damages and with a presumption of malice, which in many states (I don't know about Indiana) may entitle you to punitive damages. My suggestion is that you contact a local attorney who is experiences in defamation as opposed to general employment litigation and see whether you have a viable cause of action and, if so, whether it is strong enough for you to really want to pursue.

I agree with the prior answer that there is no employment action for hostile work environment here. But I disagree that there is any potential for a defamation action. Employers and their managers are not constrained by the laws of defamation from criticizing and correcting work performance, and they are not potentially liable for defamation in the event that their criticisms are wrong. These kinds of statements are inherently statements of opinion, direction and correction. It would cost you thousands of dollars out of your pocket to pursue a defamation claim here, because no experienced defamation attorney will take a case on these facts on contingency, and in the end you would lose. If your employer really wanted to hurt you, you would simply be fired. I don't understand your statement that you "fear" working at your job. You haven't reported any statement that constituted a threat, nor have you described any related events that could reasonably explain your fear. I do not think the situation you describe would be found to constitute constructive termination, so your options are limited to voluntarily moving on to other employment or continuing to try to satisfy your present employer. If there are facts beyond those you posted here, talk with a local employment attorney.

Mr. Address and Ms. Mccall both correctly advise you that a hostile work environment requires that the circumstances be related to some form of unlawful discrimination or retaliation. Many employees mistakenly assume that if they feel hostility directed at them in their workplace, that this would constitute a hostile work environment. That approach is consonant with the tendency of many persons to seek legal advice while at the same time starting out with a legal conclusion, rather than simply providing facts. A hostile work environment is a legal conclusion. If you want our opinions here on avvo, you have to let us reach the legal conclusions. Now, as for defamation -- the issue that divided Mr. Address and Ms. Mccall -- defamation means a false and disparaging remark that causes damage. Defamation consists of libel (the written form) and slander (the oral form). Slander per se is a category of slander that includes disparaging one's business reputation. The "per se" part frees the plaintiff from having to particularize damages in the complaint (the document that starts a lawsuit and which sets forth the allegations against the defendant), because damages are presumed. But here, we are talking about statements that were made at the workplace and the statements were made only to the few "co-workers" whom you are "supposed to manage." By denigrating you to those other workers, the employer has likely harmed only itself. The damage, it seems to me, has an impact only at the workplace and accrues solely to the employer's ability to run a structured workplace. The statements that allege (which avvo deems objectionable content and which I therefore cannot quote) tend to be more opinion than fact. And the statement that you are a "liar" (if that was the exact word used) sounds, at least without a particular context, way too general to constitute anything other than opinion. A defamation case here would be simply not worth the trouble. It seems to me that it is not so much your reputation that has been harmed, but, rather, your ability to manager your "crew" may be impaired. But I don't want to stop there. If you were criticized in the manner you state and with the particular words that you state and were told something akin to the notion that you "need to act like a man," then this may possibly constitute discrimination based on gender. This is all the more so if you are a woman (you don't indicate your gender). More facts would be needed to evaluate any of your claims. One problem with any claim of discrimination is that we don't know how many employees work for your employer, and there are restrictions both under federal law and in many states with regard to the minimum number of employees before an employee may file charges of discrimination. If you are working in a small workplace (that is, one with just a few employees), you might possibly be boxed out of a discrimination charge. You also would need to understand, of course, that filing a charge of discrimination (even if it is otherwise cognizable) can be a very alienating experience in a small workplace environment. That said, let me quickly address one other issue. Many people, including you, use the word "fear" as a synonym for "discomfort." Do you truly "fear" working at your job? I doubt it. More likely, you are uncomfortable. Similarly, many people think, in evaluating the factual landscape, that how they "feel" is somehow important. It almost always is not even marginally relevant. Your best bet may be to have a sit-down (perhaps a lunch meeting) with your supervisor and explaining that her quasi-public criticisms of you may impair your effectiveness in doing your job; that you want to do as good a job as possible; and that you would welcome suggestions as to how to do so. Good luck to you.