How to Explain An Unjust Termination Part 2
September 10, 2007 by Darlene McDaniel
Filed under Jobs
Part 1: How To Explain An Unjust Termination
— Aaron B. Maduff
One of my favorite things about blogging is receiving comments from my readers. Today I got a comment, and it made me pause. Here is Part 2
Here is the comment I received:
How do you explain to an employer that you were unjustly terminated–meaning your termination involved retaliation, sex discrimination, race discrimination, etc.? On the one hand, it seems to raise a red flag to the employer. With the interviewer probably thinking, “Hmm…if I hire this person, is he/she going to sue me for the same thing?” But on the other hand, if your termination really did involve actionable discrimination, what are you supposed to say?
What are you suppose to say if your termination involved actionable discrimination?
Follow it up with something like “Unfortunately I was wrongfully terminated from my last position. As a result I filed a claim for wrongful termination and the case was successfully dispositioned in my favor.”
Things to remember: Do not go through all of the details of the incident. You do not need to tell all of the gory details and most hiring managers are not going to want to hear about all of the details. As I stated in a previous post, So You’ve Been Fired, they are more interested in determining whether you have grown from your experience or whether you are going to bring mess into their organization. It doesn’t matter who did what or who said what to whom.
Give a quick summary of what happened and the lessons you learned. It is your responsibility to communicate what you have learned and to give them peace of mind about successfully assimilating to their organization.
Going back to the comment of my reader:
If you practice how you will communicate to a hiring manager about this situation, using my recommendations above, you will be fine. Don’t try to figure out what they are thinking. Focus on what you communicate and how you communicate about this situation. The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple) priniciple will keep you out of hot water and eliminate negative perceptions by hiring managers. Don’t go into the interview worried about how you will be perceived. Go into the interview with confidence about your skills and abilities, and about the value you will bring to the organization. Speak from the confidence, and be prepared to speak about this sitiuation.
I am an african american who has worked in law firms for the last 20 years. I am very articulate, intelligent, attractive (I look 10-15 younger than I am), I am very humble and spiritual. Yet, I have been fired from my 4 jobs and left one on my own because they were trying to fire me. Job 1: the manager asked me to clean up the kitchen in which white employees had made the mess. Only problem she screamed at the top of her lungs when asking me. I responded if she would not disrespect me by screaming at me that I didn’t mind cleaning up someone else’s mess but she couldn’t talk to me any kind of way. I was fired. They made up an excuse saying I forgot to mail 1 letter, which wasn’t true. Job 2: an attorney was sexually harassing me and the same attorney was sexually harassing a white employee. The two of us spoke to the attorney and asked him to stop but he ignored us. We then went to the hr manager. The attorney was told to leave the white employee alone and the white employee was reassigned to work with someone else. I was called a liar and fired. Job 3: I worked for a 78 year old attorney and we had a great working relationship only. A white attorney who was jealous of me for some reason got drunk at a christmas party and told some people I had slept with a 78 year old man to get the job. This was a lie of the greatest magnitude. She emailed and phoned this lie around and people believe her and the white people at this firm started discriminatory actions against me based on a lie. I could no longer take the discrimination based on this lie and left on my own accord. Job 4: I left job 3 to take a job that promised more money and more responsibility. What they didn’t tell me was that the attorney was addicted to pills for depression and only came into the office one day a week because of her depression. They also did not tell me that attorney no. 2 was on some type of depressants. Attorney 2 had told me that I could send emails to a client accepting cases if it was an existing client, which is what I did. When the firm was looking to lay people off, they fired me. Reason. For sending an email to an existing client. Job: 5 I indeed, found another job after all of the above and worked at a firm whose intent seemed to be on attorneys sleeping with whomever, attorneys back stabbing each other etc. I was asked by one attorney who was purportedly sleeping with the head of the ip department (both married) to spy on another attorney who she wanted to have fired. When I refused and reported her request to hr, I was fired. You ask where is my fault in all of this? I think being too nice and too honest. In any case, I am now about to lose my home because I don’t have a job. When I go on interviews (at least those willing to see me), I’m a left with a Christian’s heart and wanting to tell the truth but I know if I do, I won’t get hired. I don’t like not being able to tell the truth and having to make a choice between telling the truth and paying the mortgage.
Hi Cooper! Thank you for visiting Interview Chatter! You have a very interesting work history. One question – are all of these jobs over the 20 years you mentioned at the beginning of your comment?
Second thought, there is a lot more going on with your jobs, experiences and terminations. The reason I say that is because, some of the underlying issues are the same. Given the “track record with terminations” my guess is that some of these organizations were not good options for you.
If you are interested in me helping you, we will probably need to talk off line. Let me know if you are interested in me assisting you. I would also like to see your resume. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Thanks for shedding light on this issue, which for many of us hits close to home. I too am struggling as the result of being terminated from my job in June, 2007. I’ve had a difficult time getting new employers to even consider me. After working for over 15 years in the field of education, I am presently at a loss for what to do. After the termination, I was referred to an attorney who agreed to take the case. I’m still unclear on what was happening for her personally, but she was on leave shortly after accepting the case and when she returned said that it would require too much time to pursue (this only after missing an appeal deadline to the State department of education) The long and short of my story is I was new to the school district in an administrative position which was sought by several people who ended working under me. Within the first month conflict began to surface. I filed a grievance against my supervisor. But, the district did not even consider my complaint, instead I was terminated for “unexcused” absences when hospitalized for six days.
Of course the story is much more involved, but the essence is that my career has suffered greatly and I’m having trouble securing employment. However, I want to know how to describe the event succintly and effectively so I can move on…I just need to get on with my life, my family has suffered enough in the last year and a half …
Hi Ms T. Thank you for stopping by Interview Chatter tonight! My recommendation is that you don’t attempt to explain what happened with the grievance. That will be a showstopper for a hiring manager, however most hiring managers understand sickness. I would recommend that you say on an application, that you were released from your previous position after an extended illness that hospitalized you for 6 days. That’s it. Nothing else needs to be said. That eliminates the issues that led to conflict on the job.
The second thing I would recommend: it is very important that you understand how you will be spoken about by the school district when another school district calls to verify employment. Contact the state department of education and find out what will be said to a potential employer. That will give you a clear picture of how you need to frame what you say to a potential employer.
As far as the issue on the job, my last recommendation is that you will need to work through any residual frustration, anger, bitterness, that you may be feeling about this situation. I can not express to you how important it is that you eliminate any negative emotions you may have about the situation. It will get in your way while in a job search. You need to reconcile what happened, accept responsibility for your part in it and let go of the rest. Move forward, look for opportunities to substitute teach, if teaching is what you want to do. Look for private school opportunities. You can and will find another job, I have no doubt about it! Please let me know if you have any additional questions. My recommendations are based off of the information given in your comment.
Darlene
Thank you so much for your insightful words and the time devoted to assisting me with my situation. I will definitely take your advice. I appreciate your confidence and trust that this storm will soon end.
No problem! Please keep me posted on your progress! Let me know if I can assist or answer any additional questions! I look forward to hearing back from you.
Hi Darlene,
I have just been let go from my employer of 5 years. Although my employer could say it was due to job performance, I do feel I was wrongfully terminated. For the past 4.5 years I had excellent reviews with pay increases. About last April a new employee was hired to replace the medical assistant/office manager. This office manager was pushed out due to the fact that they hired a “practice administrator”. I got along great with the practice administrator and even had a 2 good reviews with her. When they hired a new medical assistant they promised her full-time hours within a year. My hours had started out part-time and gradually increased. I was mislead into thinking my job was growing as well as my hours as I was asked each year’s review to give more time. When this new person was hired my hours were suddenly halted. My job became busier but I was not allowed to work more hours. I felt that little by little I was being tested, being required to do more work in the same or less hours. As a result the past 3 month my job performance sharply declined and I made many mistakes. When I used the reason that I need more time I was told if I could not do my job in the time given someone else would have to do it. At one point they actually tried to give the medical assistant my job duties so they could give her more hours.
When I told them I was not ok with this, they just continued to cut my hours more. Finally, about 2 weeks ago, the latest mistake I made they used to ask me to resign or take a demotion – doing another job with less pay. Because my spouse was also just recently laid off from his job of 10 years due to an economic lay-off and my financial situation required that I work, I took the demotion. I think they were disappointed and said ok. I came to work the following week and did what I was told, but they said I didn’t look happy there was too much tension. I was totally professional – told them that I thought I was being friendly, appearing happy, etc. Today when I came in for work I was told this is going to work. I should leave and they will pay me for a full day and 2 weeks vacation that I had left. I was also told previously when they suggested I resign that I couldn’t collect unemployment because I wasn’t fired. However, today I was asked to leave – I did not resign. I need to be able to collect ui, because of our situation, but I also don’t want the stigma of being fired. How do I proceed with future job search?
Hi Sara,
My first recommendation is that you contact HR and find out how they coded your termination. That will give you clarity about the unemployment benefits. You may need to contact the unemployment office and have a discussion with them as well. Find out what your rights are in the state that you live in. Find out from HR what they will say when they receive a call to verify employment.
As far as your job search, that is a little more complicated. By your own admission, your performance declined as a result of the work load and the number of hours you were given to do the job. That is what I would recommend you say if asked why you are no longer working with the organization.
Let’s talk offline when you get a moment. You can send me an email at darlingmcdaniel@gmail.com.
Lastly, you and your husband may want to through your name in the hat for the book give-a-way I am doing. Click here to leave your entry: http://www.bizzia.com/articles/101-great-answers-book-give-a-way/
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Darlene