Obviously this isn't a topic to bring up in an interview, and you want to push this discussion off as long as possible, but when asked "May we contact your previous employer?" or " What would your current employer say about you if asked?" how should you answer if you and your former/current employer are undergoing a legal battle?
I left my last job with a small local firm because I found out that the boss had been ripping me off. My pay structure was tied to the completion of projects. When projects completed I was given 20% of our firms success fee, however behind closed doors the clients payment schedule was handled without my knowledge. As things progressed last year, I noticed that my checks were not keeping up with my expected payout. Previously I didn't think about this issue as I thought that I was being handled fairly, but after seeing my boss purchase a Villa in the Florida Keys, and he purchased himself a new Maserati, I wondered where this money was coming from, and where my pay was.
I asked if we could pull the clients invoices so that I could see what payment were made, and was told that I didn't need to see them, and that I was not to see them. I spoke with our secretary, and since she was quitting she gladly gave me everything I asked for. It turned out that I was not paid $2xx,xxx over my 3 years with the firm. I don't know where the cash went, but it never came to me. I approached my boss about this after the secretary left, and he argued that I shouldn't have that information, and that I was fired. I took this information to an attorney, and we are now in litigation over my unpaid wages.
How should I address this if the question is brought up?
If the question comes up, be honest.
Obviously you do not need to include every detail (especially how you figured out that your former boss was cheating you), but summing up how the legal battle started in the first place doesn't hurt.
Hearing this your interviewer may not even want to contact your former employer anymore.
Kudos to you for standing up for what's rightfully yours. I'm no hiring manager, but this is how I would go about it.
And, if you do discuss in an interview. You want to have a very clear type of composure. A composure that represents a sort of 'introspective', 'oh yeah, wow, I can't believe that happened' type of approach to the discussion.
You will turn away employers if you're harsh or angry in reflection about the whole matter, because even though you are highly emotionally involved, and they know that it would claw someone's emotions, the name of the game in the interview and new hire dance is to have learned from previous matters with a positive view, even if they weren't your fault.
Smile, don't talk too fast, don't lose yourself, and don't let that part of the interview cloud your whole way of thinking for the session. It may be easy to let that darkness and anger come over you, so find a balance of telling a good story in which you approached the situation with care and thoughtful professionalism to convey to the new firm that you are able to handle whatever comes at you in a cool and controlled manner.
A similar thing happened to my friend who was a CPA. She was shorted about $110K in pay over a couple years and went to court and the court required the firm to pay 2x, so she was awarded $220K.
I'd craft a fairly simple and straight forward story. Something like:
At my last job another employee disclosed to me that I had been shortchanged $x hundred thousand based on my employment contract. When I confronted the owner about it he fired me. I sought the advice of an employment lawyer, and we are now pursuing legal remedy.
Craft something short and simple, and you probably want to run it by your lawyer as well.
So I don't agree with the general sentiment here. First of all, your approach was absolutely horrible. You should not have approached your boss with the information until A) you obtained documented proof (pictures on your phone of the material or the actual documents from the exiting secretary) and B) you already had secured employment elsewhere. What did you think he was going to do when confronted with that sort of information?
That said, you find yourself in a difficult position because of some bad choices. Let me ask you a question, what percentage of employees leave their former employer because of general dissatisfaction? What percent of those discuss their dissatisfaction on job interviews with potential employers? And of those that do, how many do you believe benefit from that decision?
Fundamentally, you're not in a different position from the countless millions that exit their job because of dissatisfaction. Yes, your example is more extreme, but that's only more of a reason not discuss it. This is an enormous red flag. In no way can disclosing this information help you at all.
When asked with the question, I would respond with "in general, my former employers would say that I posses a,b,c,d,e good qualities."
Thanks for your insight. As I said, I do not plan on mentioning that situation unless I am asked about it. I was not planning to mention this right out of the gate as this isn't something you lead with, "I am currently suing my last employer, but please hire me."
I wasn't interested in staying with the firm after the red flags started popping up, and there are now former clients suing our firm. It was a toxic environment.
To be clear, my advice to you is to not bring up, even when asked about your experience with your previous employer.
Esuric , I think you generally give great advice and I make a point to look for your posts on WSO, but I'd have to respectfully disagree here. While I don't think there is a great answer for this shitty situation, I think Vincejackrox has a legitimate concern which your advice doesn't really address, which is if they do a reference check (which they certainly will - especially if he is currently unemployed), he doesn't want the company to get blindsided with what will almost certainly be a negative or biased review. If his former employer is smart, they will only acknowledge the dates he worked (saying bad things opens them up for more litigation, albeit difficult to actually pursue).
However, with the track record as presented, I wouldn't bet on them doing the rationale/moral thing, so I think Vincejackrox 's concerns are valid.
I do like the advice above, which is: As a LAST RESORT, if pushed, I would mention the litigation in as calm and well crafted a manner as possible. Shows professional maturity, calm under highly irregular and unfair circumstances. But I would check with a lawyer on what you could/should say, instead of a few strangers on WSO for something like this. My (unsolicited) two cents.
I understand your point but here's my take: It's better to get to the stage of background check and have the issue arise than to present it right off the bat, at the beginning of the process.
Here's why: if you make it all the way to the end, you've already demonstrated your value to your prospective employer and they've already demonstrated preference for you. At this point, you've beaten out numerous competitors and HR has already put a significant amount of effort and resources into your candidacy. So when (and if) HR is confronted with this information, it's my belief that they'll be more likely to have a sympathetic ear to your position and will likely give you more of a chance to explain yourself. Restarting the whole interview process from scratch is costly and takes time. Often, there's an immediate hiring need.
However, disclosing the information right away, up front, will effectively terminate your candidacy. It's an enormous red flag and, at that point, they don't really know or care about you. In addition, there's always the chance that they don't really do a background check.
So again, my advice not to lie. Don't say that things were great at your last firm. Instead, respond within the broader context of your employment history at the start and get to the details later on, when you have an opportunity to more thoroughly explain yourself (if so required). Just think about it. Do employers come to you with their dirty laundry right off the bat, or ever?
Again, my two cents.
Just to give an update:
I spoke with my attorney on Monday. He is a family friend who is taking on this case for free. He is one of the top attorney's in the state with a strong w/l record regarding employment cases such as this. He advised me to first speak with my ex-boss and see if we could settle before we ha to take it to the next step. We also discussed how to approach interview questions, and he advised me to say as little negative as possible, but to make sure that I came across as a team player.
With this insight I had coffee with my ex-boss this morning, and it went over about as well as expected. I was calm, and I made sure to lay out my claim as to why I needed to be properly compensated. I reminded him of the $55mm in new business that I brought to the firm, and how I trained interns as well as analysts, and how I never disappointed on the engagements I managed. I explained that I have proof that I was shorted $200k+ during my time with the firm.
He said that if I wanted another dime I would first have to sign an exit letter, but he would not pay me another dime. He said that he was doing right by me and my family, and looking out for our best interest. That he kept me on with the firm out of the goodness of his heart, and that there were more qualified candidates that he could have replaced me with. He finished by saying that if I were to sue that he had two of the top attorneys ready to go, and that he had already spent $11k in legal fees in preparation of a potential case.
I couldn't take it after that so I said "BS. You weren't looking out for my family's best interest, you kept money out of my pocket, an that kept money from my family. You weren't looking out for my best interest when I was helping the firm and you were holding back my compensation. I don't know why you spent $11k already, I haven't filed anything yet, so that leads me to believe that you don't even know how you are going to approach being sued, so good luck."
Its interesting as our clients have been in contact with me since I was fired. I didn't have any disparaging words regarding the firm, but to a man they were all disappointed that I would no longer be working on their projects. One client even offered to hire me as their CFO, but their firm is in Denver, and I still have children in school. Its amazing that they have shown more empathy than my former employer ever did.
I have two interviews lined up in the next two weeks. One in Dallas with a BB working with MM. The other in San Fran with a BB working in energy MM. I am going to leave things in my attorney's hands regarding the law suit, and just keep my head down and plug away at job offers.