How to answer questions about job loss when you were fired

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have pursued this legally if no one actually really thought he was to blame for anything. The talk of hiring a lawyer usually changes people's minds.

Based on what? What did the company do that is illegal?

[Anonymous]

OP, was your husband a whistleblower? He would be entitled to legal protection in that case.

[Anonymous]

Will his local boss (seems like an ally?) be able to give him a good rec for future applications/job prospects?

[Anonymous]

The employer can claim all they want about references, but the reality is anyone your husband worked with can be used for a reference. All HR can do is verify dates of employment and salary, nothing else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does that mean no one from his job can give him a reference? I don't understand why his local boss wouldn't be able to be a good reference for him

NP here. He can always ask, but do not be surprised if he gets no response or a negative response. From the sounds of how things went last week, it is quite possible that HR or management has asked the employees not to be in contact with him and not to provide any written reference. Having seen a similar situation in an IT contracting company, employees were informed not to provide anything more than dates of employment because if you were not careful, you could create a legal situation where there was none. In the given case, the employee in question was a racial minority and the fear was that there could be grounds to make an EEO complaint against the company for wrongful termination (which did not happen). However, there are other instances where management or HR can give instructions not to contact a terminated employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have pursued this legally if no one actually really thought he was to blame for anything. The talk of hiring a lawyer usually changes people's minds.

Based on what? What did the company do that is illegal?

Firing him without cause. .based only on some rumor. I woukd be furious and would fight to the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have pursued this legally if no one actually really thought he was to blame for anything. The talk of hiring a lawyer usually changes people's minds.

Based on what? What did the company do that is illegal?

Firing him without cause. .based only on some rumor. I woukd be furious and would fight to the end.

Unless he has a contract, they can fire him at any time as long as it is not because of a protected reason. You can fight, but you will lose, and others will hear about the fight.

[Anonymous]

I have a question (not necessarily for OP) about the "involuntary termination" on the internal record but only verifying dates of employment. I'm in a similar position. I was let go from a position after a month on the job. I leave it off my resume, but the application for fed jobs specifically asks if you've been terminated from a job in the last x years (I think it's five years). So I have to put it on there that I was involuntarily terminated (right?) which then likely gets me disqualified from the cert pool. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

So sorry OP. This must be really stressful. Is your DH an executive/high level attorney/something similar? If so there are a lot of career coaches and resume writers. Maybe just sink $500 into a good resume writer and 500-1000 for a few meetings with a career coach who can work with him on how to spin this. Is there anything he can do to "fill in" the gap that will happen on his resume - some part time consulting? My DH lost his big law job in 2010 without much warning - his was lead to believe he would make partner, then did not because he wasn't bringing in enough business yada yada. He found a 25$/hr consulting gig through craigslist at a legit but small company and did that for 8 months part time while looking for a new job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would have pursued this legally if no one actually really thought he was to blame for anything. The talk of hiring a lawyer usually changes people's minds.

Based on what? What did the company do that is illegal?

Firing him without cause. .based only on some rumor. I woukd be furious and would fight to the end.

There is a lot of misunderstanding on this board about employment law. First, you are not required by law to have cause to fire someone. Second, having suspicions and thus being unable to trust an employee IS cause. An employer is not a court and you are not innocent until proven guilty.

Unless there is something OP isn't telling us, any employment lawyer would tell OP's DH that he doesn't have a case. The best move is to look forward and work on finding a new job. Sounds like he's doing that.

[Anonymous]

I'm ethics officer for my company and sad to say, I'm pretty sure every wife of every guy we have ever fired for an ethics violation believes there was no proof, that his boss believed him but HR made him be fired, etc etc.

In reality, there has always been an open and shut case that he looked at porn, told a racist joke, lied on an expense report, got a bribe from a vendor, etc etc.

Eyes open, OP.

[Anonymous]

My husband was fired from a job 4 years ago. He violated a policy that lots of other people at the firm also violated (don't want to go into details, but basically on the same level as going on facebook or spotify at work, which was against the company technology policy) and turns out the firm was looking for an excuse to get rid of him because he was trying to negotiate a raise and they decided to just get someone newer/cheaper. He thought he was going into a meeting to discuss a raise and instead he was fired -- told to pack his things and leave.

It was awful. Job searching was not great. He was able to reach out to a few people from the former job who agreed to be his references and provide positive recommendations and vague answers for why he left. He wasn't able to be too picky for the next job after that one, but he eventually landed somewhere that was a good fit.

It was very rough on our marriage though. I think I will always live in fear of him being fired again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm ethics officer for my company and sad to say, I'm pretty sure every wife of every guy we have ever fired for an ethics violation believes there was no proof, that his boss believed him but HR made him be fired, etc etc.

In reality, there has always been an open and shut case that he looked at porn, told a racist joke, lied on an expense report, got a bribe from a vendor, etc etc.

Eyes open, OP.

Yeah, unfortunately this. I know a guy at work who was terminated because he (married) started an affair with a direct report (also married) and then the shit hit the fan. Definitely would not have told his wife the truth -- same situation ("so-and-so has left to pursue other opportunities", etc).

OP, I think you need to be prepared to face the fact that DH did something wrong.

[Anonymous]

I'm the ethics officer pp, and look, maybe it doesn't matter.

A company has no interest in going on the record about someone's ethics violation, because where a violation exists, that shows a weakness in training/culture/controls that allowed it to happen. What you have to worry about is the gossip rumor mill, which you can't really control anyway. I would never create a talking point around my departure that in any way referenced an ethics issue.

If it is true that he was fired for no reason, then it had to have been a set up, and a set up done by a powerful person he pissed off. Lesson learned--do not piss off powerful people, and make damn sure you know who the biggest gorilla at your company is--hint, it's not always the person highest on the totem pole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband was fired from a job 4 years ago. He violated a policy that lots of other people at the firm also violated (don't want to go into details, but basically on the same level as going on facebook or spotify at work, which was against the company technology policy) and turns out the firm was looking for an excuse to get rid of him because he was trying to negotiate a raise and they decided to just get someone newer/cheaper. He thought he was going into a meeting to discuss a raise and instead he was fired -- told to pack his things and leave.

It was awful. Job searching was not great. He was able to reach out to a few people from the former job who agreed to be his references and provide positive recommendations and vague answers for why he left. He wasn't able to be too picky for the next job after that one, but he eventually landed somewhere that was a good fit.

It was very rough on our marriage though. I think I will always live in fear of him being fired again.

My husband was fired awhile back and to his credit, he rebounded quickly, but yeah- it still follows me. I worry a lot about it, actually. It is incredibly stressful and unpleasant (mine was fired right after winning a huge contract so we were very taken aback- his boss just didn't care for him and said they "had to make cuts).