Interview Chatter

How To Explain An Unjust Termination

by Darlene McDaniel on September 10th, 2007

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 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?

Let me begin with some research before I share my thoughts on how you should answer this question in an interview.

Research from Maduff Law.com:

Discrimination
“It is illegal to discriminate in hiring, promotions, termination (known as wrongful termination) or other aspects of employment on the basis of a person’s race, gender, national origin, religion, disability, or age, or to retaliate against an individual for opposing such practices, or consulting an attorney or the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).”

“In the context of employment discrimination, race and sex discrimination come in many forms including: denial of overtime work, denial of or limited bonuses, wrongful termination (although wrongful termination claims are more typical in race discrimination cases than in sex discrimination cases), poor evaluations, differential discipline, and even outright harassment. The key to any kind of employment discrimination claim is that the reason for the discrimination is that the victim is of a particular race or sex.”

Retaliation:
“If you feel you have been subjected to discrimination and are afraid to pursue your case for fear of retaliation or wrongful termination or if you are afraid that you may suffer or have already suffered retaliation, you need an employment lawyer to advise you on your best course of action. Just because you speak to a lawyer, does not mean that you must file a case. And since that consultation is entirely confidential, if you decide not to pursue a case no one needs to know that you spoke to an employment lawyer at all.”

Click the link below to read part 2, the conclusion of this post!

Part 2: How To Explain An Unjust Termination

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POSTED IN: Coach's Cornor, Q & A, Tough Questions