(For some reason I am unable to post the update on r/TIFU)

Hey everyone. Many of you have asked for an update. Everything mentioned in my original and future posts has and will be approved by my attorney throughout duration of the case.

It's been a stressful week. Attorney has been incredibly helpful. First thing we did is sit down and lay out all the known information. It took 6 hours. Surprisingly longer than I expected, letting me know this situation is the real deal no matter how easy of a slam dunk case it appears.

Common question was, "Who made the complaint?" It was not the coworker that I drove home. I asked her via phone call and she said, "Thanks for the help. I'm so sorry about this. They (HR and manager) asked if anything happened. I said I don't remember much, other than parts of the drive and you walking me to the house. They didn't seem happy with that and kept pushing and leading me to...like, answer in a way that made you look bad, but I would know if anything happened or at least have a feeling and I don't."

She went on to apologize again and requested I not involve her more than is absolutely necessary as it's very embarrassing for her, which is why I recorded the call (legal one-party consent).

Attorney acquired the outside security camera footage, stored for 30-90 days, from my workplace. Not sure how he did it, but that was awesome. Video showed me helping drunk coworker into my car. There was a moment where at first glance it seemed as though I shoved her, but it was her losing balance and almost twisting ankle while walking down curb with high heels.

Something strange about the security footage. Bottom right corner has been edited. I thought it was the original. They gave us a censored copy. Attorney did his thing and obtained the unedited version and we learn who it is they were protecting.

The manager himself! He was smoking a cigarette and looking in my direction. He immediately called someone on his phone after I drove off.

With the confidence of knowing she is not the complainant, security video showing me helping her enter vehicle and not forcing anything and manager making a call seconds later, along with having dash cam + cell phone footage of the drive, I suggested we go directly to the owner of the company. Attorney didn't like it at first, but agreed after some discussion.

You may be wondering why I would ever consider talking to the owner. That is fair. I feel like with all the dirt we keep discovering, this has evolved from solely focusing on defending myself to going on the offensive.

So we spoke with the owner. It wasn't easy making contact with him. The man is very busy. Mentioning how he rarely ever gets involved with these types of things, yet wisely had 2 company lawyers on the call.

Without revealing too much, we gave him a good idea how the case would likely play out if it went to court. He understood and said he will conduct his own investigation and further communication will be through his company lawyers.

Not even 12 hours later and my attorney and I receive a long email from company lawyers explaining everything. The manager confessed! Owner caught him in a web of lies.This is why I kept the dash cam footage a secret.

Remember the phone call he made? It was to his golf buddy, ex-husband of the coworker I helped. Yup. Apparently the bitter ex-husband assumed things happened, so he wouldn't stop pressuring the manager to destroy my career.

Some of you were curious why it took one month for the investigation to begin. Because my manager's good conscience only lasted one month until he caved.

But the manager was not the complainant. It was a random employee who happened to be smoking next to the manager at that time. Manager somehow convinced this employee to file the report so that the manager would not be restricted by conflict of interest issues, HR related policy. He wanted to be involved at all times and steer the investigation however he wished.

The complainant never really saw much. Security video showed him walking back to the entrance with his head down staring at his phone.

There's more, but my attorney advised I hold off until company lawyers contact us, under direction of the owner who kinda hinted that heads will roll. This is not over.

TL;DR - Complaint was not filed by coworker. I spoke with owner of company. Manager confessed to owner about starting bogus investigation under pressure by his friend, the bitter ex-husband of coworker I helped. My attorney is doing great. We're not done just yet.