There was that old case of the representative of Calvin Klein who was fired for having body odour while representing its products and whose name at the time became synonymous with body odour in the workplace.

Many cases discussed in this column have described employees in a very bad light.

Over the years, I have had many of them call or write me, upset that I was dredging up allegations of fraud, criminality, incompetence or just horrific judgement, all for their present employer, future potential employers or their children and neighbours to read about.

And that is the point. Court proceedings and their judgements are public. Even if you have a good case, if your behaviour is such that you want to avoid your friends, family or employer reading about in these pages, you best think hard before proceeding.

And deciding that you will simply not take a case to trial is insufficient. Once a claim is issued, it is on the public record. And employers can say things in their statements of defence, which are also public, without fear of being sued for libel, even if those horrific allegations prove to be false because of the absolute privilege attached to court filings (similar legally to Parliamentary immunity).

There are repercussions in court for calumnious allegations in pleadings, without justification. The other side might be awarded costs as result. Or, if an employer alleges cause in bad faith, an employee will be awarded additional damages, called “Honda” damages. But that is after a trial if the case ever gets to trial, which few do. Until then (and after for all time), the pleadings are there for the world to see.

In fairness, newspapers no longer have the budget to have reporters sitting around court houses waiting to see what claims are filed. But someone could tip them off — and often do.

There was one case which I wrote about in these pages involving Flair Airline where the statement of defence was particularly tough on an employee. I act for Flair and it did not appear that Flair had provided the local press with the information that this claim (and therefore defence) had been filed. I don’t know if it was the employee who did or an overly attentive local reporter. But the point is that, if you have conduct relevant to an action or that the employer could make relevant to an action, you want to consider very seriously whether you want to risk that appearing on the public record.

It is a tool of mediation which I often employ when acting for employers. Draft the mediation brief in a fashion to make clear to the employee how career ending their conduct can appear and then persuade them that the game is not worth the candle. Whatever monies they think they are entitled to will be eclipsed by public ignominy if they proceed.

I am actually doing them a favour. No one wants to end up like Terry Sanderson.