Might loose job for tickling

[Iggy pop]

Minor but important detail: It all depends on their interpretation of the handbook. And if their handbook doesn't have the "at-will employment" boiler, plus an escape hatch that allows them to quickly fire someone who steps over the line, then they should fire their HR director next.

This is not entirely true in most jurisdicitions. For example, you state in the handbook that you are at will employee, but in reality you always follow certain procedures when terminating someone. These procedure can cause a resonable reliance on the part of the employee which can be used to legally enforce these policies. Basically you can't say one thing, act another way, and then suddenly go back and try to enforce the language in the handbook.

 

[WheresThe Clip?]

I have to say KrazieDog seems to have the best take on this.

You have to move on with your life. Getting into a load of bullshit litigation is not the way to do it. The way to do it is to admit you screwed up by trying to mix work with pleasure (fetish). We have all done it in one way or the other (in my case once with a Valentines card at work). It's called learning about life and growing up.

If I were you I would write to your employer and state:
1) You are disappointed that what was intended as a humourous remark, to what you assumed was a friendly work colleague, was taken out of context.
2) State that you are unhappy with how they handled the situation, and are convinced that they had another agenda anyway. Therefore state that you are not prepared to commit your future to such an employer (irrespective of the fact that they have already sacked you).

After which forget about them and go and look for another job. Explain to your next potential employer's (without getting into specifics) that they were looking to make redundancies and used a joke email as a pretext to get rid of you.

Good luck