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.
This.
If I was a hiring manager, and I'm not but I do play a role in our hiring process(on a panel). And this information in more of a vague form:
I wasn't rightfully paid my wholesome fees, figured out , approached my boss and then therefore fired I wouldn't even attempt to talk to that previous employer outside of confirmation of job period and title. Nothing more.
And man, that sucks. You're way more calm. I'd walk be pressing charges for theft, interest loss too.
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.
1 Hope you win the case
2 Chat with your lawyer around the wording: My former employer is being investigated for fraudulent payment practices and embezzlement to/of former employees and the case is ongoing. Want to avoid slander
Thanks for the advice so far.
It really hurts that I have to pursue legal action to get my money, but it hurts even more the amount of clients that I brought in, and the work I put in to build up that business just to get ripped off in the end. I wanted to build that business into something more than it was when I arrived, and the MD and Principal were both pushing me to do more. Little did I know that it wasn't for my gain, but theirs.
You shouldn't be asking this on a public forum, you should be asking your lawyer. They should advise you on what to say because you don't want it to affect your litigation, right?
Fair point, I didn't realize that I might be impacting my case. I thought that getting advice from others in the field might help as I have a few interviews coming up, and clarification would be appreciated.
Pack the jury like they do for all grand juries. Over-sample WSO...
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.
Confirm with your lawyer
This info won’t help your case with seeking employment at other firms. However, I would disclose it because front running this helps you frame the narrative, as opposed to a potential employer getting blindsided by finding out themselves, and feeling you deceived them by not disclosing yourself
If I were you, I would describe the situation very simply and briefly, with no emotion or feeling of complaint, but just matter-of-factly. Also maybe describe what you learned from the experience, it terms of being more conscientious. Lastly if you have anyone at your old firm (even the secretary) that can corroborate your story, maybe mention that you have this as well. Key is to disclose this issue without dwelling on it at all, so it doesn’t become a point of focus, but rather a ‘routine’ matter that you’re taking care of
Sorry that you find yourself in such shitty situation. There’s a way to get ahead of it though which i think may work in your case. There are services that for a nominal fee will do a “fake” reference check for you. Google it. They do it legit, they record the entire thing and the person calling will prepare the affidavit (sworn statement) that can be used in court. Hire one of those guys to call your former employer for a “reference check”. Perhaps the guy will be smart and will not say anything slanderous. That way you know you can proceed by giving him as a reference to future employers and not worry. Or, perhaps, he will be dumb and he will say slanderous things about you on the record. Then you can take this documented case of slander to your attorney and add more causes of actions to your lawsuit. You may even be able to get a restraining order preventing him from saying these things to future employers (though this is a very very long shot because obviously 1st amendment). At the very least it should be enough to scare him and prevent such behavior in the future! Run this by your lawyer and see what he/she thinks.
My opinion, first ask the right person about it eg. lawyer. I'm sorry you're in that situation there are just people out there that are just ****. I hope you find the right solution but first for your own good ask a lawyer.
Good luck I hope you win
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.
Any update?
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