Question: “A good friend was fired recently for sexual harassment. He did pat a woman on her bottom, and she told him she was offended and he apologized. She filed a complaint and the company fired him. Does he need to disclose that he was fired and why he was fired? The company will not disclose the information, they only verify employment. How does he answer the question, “Why did you leave your last job?” on an application or in an interview?” —Melodie
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what happen if they say to explain then what>
Thanks for the replies. You’ve all been very helpful.
I agree completely with Anon2. I can’t agree with those who suggest saying he was downsized was the route to go. The truth in things like this often come about through the grapevine rather than through the former employer, so even if the former employer only verifies dates of employment, if the truth comes out no matter what the source, he would probably be fired because saying it was due to downsizing would be a lie. I guarantee we would fire someone if we ever found out they lied and said they were downsized when they were really fired for something like this, but if they told us the truth and co-worker references verified it was a one-time occurrence that had never happened before, we might be inclined to give him a second chance. As Anon2 says, honesty is best.
I also agree with Jackie. Just keep it vague so that if they ever find out why you actually were fired you can justify that you technically were downsized, because Anon2 is right – you can be fired for lying.
i agree jackie
If the employer only verifies employment then you do not have to disclose this. I would say (especially in these times) cutbacks, downsizing was the reason I’m not still there. I know
honesty is the best policy in a perfect world but this is real world survival we are talking about here.
I always find honesty is best because if your friend did not put on an application the correct information then it could be construded as being dishonest. Your friend, if hired and later they find out could be fired. However,your friend does not have to go overboard either with TMI. On the application if for example: it says have you ever were fired could say “Yes, made a bad judgement call. However, learned from this experience other ways in handling a situation.” or could say made an error in judgement but through this experience have learned to better handle certain matters.”