I Guess I Will Never Be Hired Again

Back in 2002 I was wrongly discharged after a male jerk colluded with another coworker, made up a story, and it was believed by the powers that be in the organization and I was canned. I went to a meeting one day. I had no idea I was being fired over a small event. Everyone in that organization, except the administration knew I did nothing wrong and the jerk, who had been covertly harassing me for years, was just up to his same nonsense. He harassed everyone. I hired an attorney because it seemed so ridiculous, was confident I would win, the case was filed with a CA civil court and then there was a meeting to reach a settlement. I was employed there seven years, regular raises and promotions however, the new supervisor disliked me. The best part of the settlement was that my former employer would indicate that I resigned if anyone called to check human resources, and I knew that there were plenty of people in my former work area that I could ask to be a positive reference for me. Plus, the job involved working closely with individuals outside the organization. I thought this was behind me. In the meantime, I found new employment and was employed there for 6 plus years.

So, fast forward to 2009. I quit my former job and am pursuing a new career through an educational program.

I was checking something else, and I happened on a website that shows court records and I entered my name. Well, it turns out that the court case is listed on the county court website as an actual court case, even though it never went to trial, I never set foot inside the courthouse, and it was settled out of court. That, along with a few small claims cases involving renters in my private home who did not pay rent are on my record.

I just got turned down for a part time job. I am more than convinced that I will be turned down for any job for as long as I live, because this record of me suing my former employer is now public record on the internet. It was easy for me to access, so I guess easy for anyone else.

Who is going to hire someone who has a public record of suing their former employer?

I think criminals get a fairer shake than I do, and I did not even do anything wrong. I was harassed for years and then set up. The individual doing this was either a narcissist or a sociopath, but charming enough to get away with what he did. Criminals get things like sealed records and crimes taken off their records. I get this sentence for life. Is there any chance for me to ever get hired again? Is there any chance for this record to be wiped out? I was basically accused of "physical assault" and I am purposively being vague due my settlement.

I was an idiot to hire this legal firm and pay out of pocket. No one wanted to take this on retainer. I am still paying off legal fees and will probably for most of my life, if I do not have to declare bankruptcy over not being employable. I sure have learned a lot since about narcissistic employees and how they manipulate others, make up stories, etc. I was naive back then. I would never be so stupid again and have learned many lesssons, but that does not change the fact that this permanent record exists, apparently forever.

What am I supposed to do? I could not even get a part time job and I had the qualifications, the references, etc. I did not even do a legal match, because, so far, no one wants to touch this.

The law is about what you can prove.

Can you prove you are not being hired because of this lawsuit? From what you have said, you have made that assumption, but you have not said anything to prove it.

Is it possible you are making a correlation where there is no proof that here is one? Perhaps the reason is entirely different and much more within your control to "fix"?

The main issue here is not the fact that I was not hired, The main issue here is that there is public record online that I sued a former employer who is listed on my resume. So, taking away this issue of not getting the job, here are other facts: All facts.

1. It is so easy for someone to search my court records online. All they do is go to the website and plug in my name, or anyone's name. In the county I am describing, there are hardly any warnings to potential reviewers about using discretion and no fee to obtain this information.
2. According to their website, these records will be there ongoing.
3. Employers generally check court records as part of a background check.
4. Employers would rather hire someone who does not have a history of suing their employer.
5. I paid thousands and thousands of dollars to an employment attorney firm and the best that could be done by them for a settlement is that the employer cannot tell potential employers I was fired. I thought that was a victory, but no more. That victory has been taken away from me.
6. I have already contacted several attorneys and they do not want to touch this and one alluded to the fact that it is very possible I can never ever get this removed from my record. They are either unable or unwilling to assist me in cleaning this up.
7. My legal firm at the time never informed me of this possibility (lifelong display of this on the internet). Maybe there were not online records at the time, but the fact is the attorneys never informed me of this danger.
8. I otherwise have an impeccable record, good references, excellent credit, work history of working places for long periods of time, am professionally licensed in my state and am currently pursuing educational objectives that could, despite this, take me to the next level in my career. I do not see anything else in my employment record that I need to fix, unless I could become a different gender or a younger person.
9. The court records that pop up show no information to the fact that this case never went to court, went through discovery, and was settled out of court involving no cash award settlement. That is also true of a small claims case that never went beyond the application being submitted by me. That was dropped.
10. Because of the recession, which I think is a fact, competition for jobs is even greater and employers tend to do more screenings than they may have done a decade, or even a few years ago.

Again, my quesion is, what am I supposed to do about this? What recources do I have? Who can help me? I am devastated and I am going to have to rethink all my plans for my future and my retirement.

There is nothing you can do about the reality that modern technology has evolved to the point where virtually anything is available at the touch of a button. This isnt like a credit score you can pay to "clean up".
And the issue IS the fact that this matter is online and it is affecting your ability to, you say, get a job.

If it did NOT affect you in any way, if you did not feel as though you were being denied jobs, then the fact this information is out there would be a moot point----because it is not harmful. So the matter is not so much the fact that the information is out there but rather the fact that the information being there is allegedly harmful to your life.

As you stated correctly, there as was no way for the law firm to predict any possible way this could affect your life---how would they know? In fact, it is entirely possible at there may be another venue in the future that isn't even known yet that may include this information----who is responsible for predicting and warning you about that? The answer is, no one. But, court cases, law, public record, etc. has always been just that..PUBLIC. It's kind of a given to realize that if you sue someone it is, on some level, going to be part of the public record, and not protected and private.

I understand clearly your position, but from an objective point of view, I cannot see the fact you were engaged in litigation with a past employer of any relevance-------I have engaged in numerous lawsuits in my time---in fact, my tag on my car reads SUEDN1. At no time have I had it affect my life in any tangible way. I cannot imagine a lawsuit you were a party to that long ago making a difference now.

What you are trying to do, in essence, is erase the fact that something happened. Lawsuits aren't a shameful thing---some times they are necessary and are your right. I would make no apology for it, and move on. Ask some of these prospective employers why they didn't hire you. Perhaps that feedback could be of more help than second guessing something you had every right to do---and that is sue a former employer for breaking the law.

Good luck.

Thank you, Gentlegracie, for your most thoughtful answer. Your comments have really helped me to put this in its right perspective. When I read it the first time, what stood out was the comment about why should I feel any sense of shame for this, or any lawsuit, I have initiated. I certainly initiated this lawsuit because of my own principles and the fact that I believed this termination was wrong, and based on a series of events that were lies and nonsense. This was always confirmed my others in my working environment. I am the one who has moved on with my life. If I were to walk into the unit where I worked, seven years later, I would find essentially the same miserable people, including the sociopath, playing the same games, etc. In some ways, the idiot did me a favor.

I also found something interesting in my internet search regarding the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and, specifically, information as it applies to California. From what I understand about the information I am posting below (and I still need to double check this to see if it is current and still applies), there are limitations as to what potential employers can access and time limitations when they request a background check. Specifically, there is a seven year time limitation on reporting civil suits. Well, I guess I am in luck on this, because more than seven years have passed. Here is the info about this from a site called Answerbag.com | Ask Questions, Share Answers

"The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets national standards for employment screening. However, the law only applies to background checks performed by an outside company, called a "consumer reporting agency" under the FCRA. The law does not apply in situations where the employer conducts background checks inhouse.

Your state may have stronger laws, such as California's Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (Civil Code §1786) and the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agency Act (Civil Code §1785). In addition, many state labor codes and state fair employment guidelines limit the content of an employment background check. (For more on the FCRA, see Part 5.)

Under the FCRA, a background check report is called a "consumer report." This is the same "official" name given to your credit report, and the same limits on disclosure apply. The FCRA says the following cannot be reported:

* Bankruptcies after 10 years.
* Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest, from date of entry, after seven years.
* Paid tax liens after seven years.
* Accounts placed for collection after seven years.
* Any other negative information (except criminal convictions) after seven years."

Anyway, the job I applied for really was not right for me, and I am going to take the next nine months to finish my educational program, probably do an internship, and I am guessing this will not matter. There is always the option of self employment as well, which is possible in my chosen field as well. I am guessing that a potential employer would most likely be taking the route of having an outside agency do a background check. In fact, on my application I had the option of asking for a copy of the background check (California law), and next time I will check the yes box. I cannot think of any possible negative information for the last seven years that would be reported.

Thank you again for your immeasurable help!

My firm has been engaged in a Public Record research company in my state for nearly twenty years. It is the sister company to my accounting firm. Many of the requests that we respond to involve background checks that are conducted preliminary on the Internet. However, an employer screening an applicant and reading our results almost 99% of the time wants the details of any civil or criminal judgment. This means they have to pay a lot of money to get copies of a physical record and many times on old court cases, they still cannot get the details of what actually happened. I have advised numerous times to people in your position, if the credit report is listing this information add a short note explaining why you sued the employer, unless you are restricted from saying anything due to settlement stipulations. If your record is recent, you should disclose this on any application for employment!!! Don't let the employer be surprised by these things, they can't hire you if you failed to inform them of basic information. If they know in advance, you get a chance to explain yourself in an interview and it certainly looks better that way than to not say anything and leave the employer to his own conclusions; they would deduce the worst when given no information every time and you will be cut from the pack and sent on your way. You listed some information there on California law about how long something can be listed, but if I get a request to go back 20 years, I go back 20 years and submit the data. The employer may legally only be required to consider ten years, but they ask for all they can get, and believe me it's always used to evaluate someone for employment, legal or not. I think it would be better to disclose the information than to not. I recently had a gentleman apply for a position with a major airline who had a felony conviction when he was a youngster and on some medication the Dr. gave him that made him a nutcase temporarily. He went out and robbed a store, took five dollars and ran down the street crying. The judge sentenced him to probation in the early 70's, and the guy is a certified pilot who's been flying for 35 years at least, even though the felony was dropped to a misdemeanor charge, it came up on a background check as a felony and he was not hired by the airline. This happened when he was a young kid, and he was able to get a pilot license and fly for another major airline for years, but when looking for a new job, with our new technology, this old stuff cropped up. If he had disclosed what happened, they would have done a more thorough search (maybe), and found the original charge was dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor (am I spelling that right?) and all would have been fine. But he chose not to disclose anything (he thought it was way too old), and he got nailed for it. So I don't think your CA law is going to protect you from inquiring minds, better to stay on the positive side and put yourself in a position to tell your side of things. It makes you look better anyway to a potential employer. And sticking to your principles shows integrity, something employers like anyway. Good luck. Sorry for rambling on.

taxgirl,

This sure sounds like information I do not want to hear and kind of disputes everything else I have read. Basically, are you saying that prospective employers ignore the law and your firm plays a role in this? I am going to try and check with an acquaintance in HR to see what her take on this in CA. CA has enhanced laws over and above the plain, vanilla FCRA. Bigger protections too. I think I will get a detailed copy of my credit report too, but I do not recall any past credit reports showing this info about court cases. I seriously doubt it would be there after seven years because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act anyway!. What I have also recently learned is that if my non-employment decision were based on a background check negativity, regardless of whether the check was done in house or by an ouside agency, I would get notice. I also do not recall ever having to answer any questions about lawsuits either on an employment app. While I appreciate your telling of the story of the pilot, I do not fully see how one can equate a felony or misdemeanor with voluntarily filing a civil court case, but I guess they are both things that can put you at the bottom of the list or off the list with potential employers.

Thanks for the info, and, yes, honesty and full discloure seem like the best solutions. I guess I have to just let this mull around in my mind for awhile. I will not be actively looking for work again until this spring, so I have plenty of time to get things as right as they can possibly be. It is possible I will be pursuing the self-employment route anyway with my new training, and none of this will really matter.

Excuse me, but if a firm calls our research company and says we need a background check and give us information on everything back to 1970, I'm supposed to question their motive or what it's about? The fact that they are asking me to do it is not breaking the law in any way, what they DO with the information they get is where they get into trouble, and yes, at times I DO play a role (the devil's advocate), by telling a client I know is hiring someone that perhaps they don't need to go back that far, and that this information should not be used over ten years old. But because I have two companies, a consulting company and a research company, I have to walk a fine line between what I can advise and what I know to be true. They know the law as well as I do, I am not in a position to be a "whistle blower" or a "role player". Information can be obtained anywhere, the fact that I am in a position to even suggest they stay on the straight and narrow is a plus for me. We are not even dealing with proof of laws being broken here, we are dealing once again with human nature, the person who is interviewing you wants information about you, his/her job is on the line if they make a "bad" decision. If you were in their place, think about it for a minute: would you hire someone with a record in their background of taking an employer to court, and if you would, what criteria (overwhelming I might add) would you use to justify your position that this applicant above all others was the right person for the job. I have personally interviewed hundreds of applicants and looked at thousands and thousands of resumes for the companies who are my clients, I have done screenings, background checks, all manner of phone interview with people, and I would not suggest an applicant and stick my neck out without checking references on employment, court records, dmv records, personal references and any other step I could take, the last and most important of which is having the applicant in a personal interview explain to me any negative thing on his application he/she was honest enough to put on there. I once helped hire a prison parolee and place her in a job fifteen years ago, she is still there, married, happy and her employers love her. Pass her up on an application, sure, a lot of people did, I believe in giving folks a shot, they either let me down or they don't, but believe me if you are any kind of employer, you check applicants out for both positive and negative traits, just because somebody had some court trouble is not a compelling enough reason to not hire someone. It would be important for me to know the real reason WHY I was not hired, and it is worth a phone call. Sorry for rambling on, you must have pushed a button.

Sadly, taxgirl, your reply brings up two issues succinctly that are at the heart of my concerns about future employment. I am not trying to be critical of you personally, although it sounds like you will do certain things I would question with the balancing acts and positions you are in. I am critical of how the ways things are came to be and how it is perpetuated.

1. Despite the laws of the FCRA, vehicles exist where information will be retrieved and passed on from any part of any individual's life despite the limitations placed by this act on what records are accessible for purposes of employment, according to the law. It seems like, based on your report, that privacy is breached on a continual basis by companies providing background information, and employers receiving them, and even though there is a seven year law in my state for not disclosing court records after that time, and laws for time limits on other types of information provided for purposes of employment, the record will be disclosed anyway. And, if you set the limits and your customer did not like it, they would just go to another firm. I mean, why even have that FCRA laws if all companies want to do is find ways to weasel around it, ignore time limitations, etc? To me it is a moot point to say it is about what companies do with the information.

2. Again, my case is being compared to someone with a criminal record, this time, a woman with a parole officer. I do not get the connection or are you saying that filing a civil case against a company and an individual in the company is on the level of having a criminal record? I do not have a criminal record. I was the plaintiff. The only "court troubles" I can think of now is the fact that this is a public record forever, I have, long ago, put this aside, and have gone on with my life. Worked six years at another employer after this,had a business for awhile. If it were not a life long public record, that now I hear will be assessible during an employment check, despite the law saying it should not be, I would not even be on this site still discussing this. If the law were followed, this would not even be a problem. But, anyway, thank you for informing me how things really work. It is very revealing. You might be opening yourself up to potential lawsuits, from what I understand.

Maybe the best I can hope for is that I find employment with an organization that pays attention to and follows the laws of the FCRA and upholds those legal standards. In many ways, that's the kind of company I would want to work for anyway. Or, self-employment. Any company who would question me about a more than seven year court record is in blatant disregard of the law anyway, at least here in CA where they have expanded protections Why have laws if all employers want to do is get around them and you are put in a position you are?

I understand your frustrations and concerns, and believe me, these types of requests through my company are rare, because a lot of what we do is public record research anyway, but one of my clients was a investigative company, a rather large one, and the focus of many of their requests was for information on individuals criminal and court history for hiring purposes. I had access to records going back twenty years, in many cases the request was for "all" history. Now, I am not saying that my research of this individuals court history was illegal in any sense, and I disagree that my firm would be subject to lawsuits because we retrieved the information requested, after all, the county clerk's and or court clerks where we pulled the information allowed it.
The law that sets those protections for an individual should take it to the court level and seal any records beyond ten years from research companies like mine and also from any companies or individuals who would affect a record or a credit report of an individual. Most courts should have policies about the ten year limit, but they don't. Another case in question, a guy get's arrested on a felony charge in the 1970's; he's 60 years old now, the felony charge is dropped, he actually countersued for false arrest and won, then 30 years later he tries to buy a hunting rifle to go hunting in Colorado and guess what? The felony shows up and he can't get the gun. It takes nearly an act of God to get this removed and cleared up. I realize this is another criminal instance, but the fact is if this guy was looking for employment this would have shown up and he would not have been hired because of this record search.
As pertains to prospective employees and hiring policies within companies, an applicant should have the right to know why he/she wasn't hired, but I am not familiar with any laws that would pertain unless there was some discrimination involved. I do feel, however, that because it is a court record and you were the plaintiff, that as a matter of public record the case is going to surface no matter what. It is along the same lines as have a tax judgment on your house or any other transaction involving a public record filing. Now, there may certainly be a possibility that any information in the public court record could be sealed. I think if you contact the court where the case was filed, and ask the question, hey this is over ten years old, and the law says ten years is the limit on disclosing information about personal information, maybe they would be able to seal the file, in which case no one gets access to the information or what it was all about.
The problem is the case itself is a matter of public record and I don't think even in CA the court would acknowledge the case as violating a person's privacy. It might be worth a try just to set your mind at ease, but my common sense offers more suggestions: Do you have to list this employer on your resume? An HR search normally involves criminal and motor vehicle history, not civil court records. The fact that you saw it doesn't mean a potential employer is even looking there. You stated that you don't understand why it is a matter of public record because you never went to court, but if you filed a complaint against the employer, they answered the complaint and then it was settled, the original complaint the attorneys filed for you had a case number, that's why you are seeing it. Were you actually able to pull up the documents on the Internet and read them? I find that hard to believe, the records may list a case, but they don't usually let you look at the filings unless you can pay a fee, and even then it might still not be accessible.
So my concern is that you need to get this off your record for employment purposes, but background checks only involve criminal/motor vehcile records. Most employers would go no further than that, unless the position was government in which case they check everything. If your position you were applying for involved supervision of children, minors, or was in any way sensitive, then I could see an employer looking a little further into credit reports, financial records, and public court cases, but for the most part employers do not have time to go through all that, they stick to basic background checks and call the references. There is a possibility (however remote) that whoever they called for references on this former employer, "spilled the beans", but again, you should talk to the person who didn't hire you and ask the questions. You won't lose anything by trying to get this information, and you may get an answer that will help you on the next application. Good luck