Got fired. Do I mention the ongoing discrimination case at interviews?

February 25, 2019 6:22 AM

I was very recently dismissed, and now I'm looking for a new job. Do I tell prospective employers that the contract was terminated and leave it at that? Or do I add an explanation that there's an ongoing discrimination case surrounding the dismissal?

I've never been in this situation before. I can't wait until this is all said and done in order to find a new job. I don't want to lie or break the law by not telling a prospective employer that I was sacked. The truth is that my contract was terminated, but the details include an ongoing case investigating disability discrimination. I'm in Great Britain. What is the right thing to do here?

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (9 answers total)

I would not tell them. There is no upside to telling them. They will think you are litigious and a demanding pain in the ass. If you're worried that telling them you were fired makes you sound incompetent...I mean maybe, but not necessarily, and it doesn't matter because they would rather hire someone incompetent than someone litigious and demanding.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:33 AM on February 25, 2019 [21 favorites]

Totally agree with comment above. Employers generally try to steer clear of anyone who talks about a lawsuit (whether it be pending or in the past) against an employer because it sounds like drama (even if it wasn't the employee's fault) and that isn't worth the potential risk. No need to ever bring this up, even if you win the lawsuit, in any future job interview.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 7:36 AM on February 25, 2019 [5 favorites]

Try to avoid the word terminated in an interview as well. Your contract ended and that is why you are looking for work.
posted by crazycanuck at 8:19 AM on February 25, 2019 [16 favorites]

Tell potential employers they will only verify employment. Get somebody to call and ask for a reference to see if you are getting slammed.
posted by theora55 at 8:31 AM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]

The problem with telling me something like that in an interview is that I don't know you yet. So I can't tell in the interview if you are the model employee that got caught up with a shitty employer or if you were actually the problem and are using this as an excuse as to why you got fired. All I know if you give me this information is that you are involved in a lawsuit against your former employer and that you are telling strangers about it.
posted by magnetsphere at 8:37 AM on February 25, 2019 [9 favorites]

You should not reveal any details about the case until it is over. If you win, you might have a good story to tell. If you lose, you definitely won't. Prospective employers who hear about it beforehand are likely to assume the worst — this may still be true even if you win, so be careful. I agree that the way to go is to simply say the contract ended.
posted by ubiquity at 9:43 AM on February 25, 2019

Agree with most above. To put it another way, a job interview isn't a confessional. It's you telling the "best of" story of your working life. Keep it happy, upbeat, positive, forward-looking, hopeful, enthusiastic. Leaving out the lawsuit is legal AND ethical.
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:45 AM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Not telling them about it is neither lying nor breaking the law. It is perfectly acceptable to not mention in both a legal and moral sense.
posted by contrarian at 12:46 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

I cannot see how it is possibly in your best interest to mention the discrimination investigation.

Seconding that a job interview is not a confessional. I'm frequently stunned by the things people bring up unasked in job interviews, nearly always to their detriment.

Most interviewers are going to assume that what you're telling them in an interview is a heavily glossed-over, positively-spun version of yourself. If you put negative stuff in there, they're only going to assume that the reality is much, much worse.

And agreed that the word "terminated" is negative and I wouldn't use it. I'd just say that the contract ended and you now find yourself with an opportunity to find something different, or something similarly benign. They'll read between the lines if they're not stupid, but again: they're already doing the mental math of assuming everything is probably worse than you're telling them, don't start off at a disadvantage.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:39 AM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]