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  1. #1

    Default Fired Before My First Day of Work

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Pennsylvania

    I was hired by a college in my area and fired before my first day because of my credit report

    Before you say anything let me say that I was told during the initial interview that there was NO CREDIT CHECK for my particular position. All of the email correspondence say nothing about a credit check only criminal background checks which I know I passed with flying colors because I have never been in any kind of trouble what so ever.

    I have all of the emails where they gave me a start date of June 1st 2018 and then said they were going to have to push my start back to June 11th because the hadn't received my back ground check when in fact they had because the letter I received denying my employment say that it was received on May 30th 2018. Also it states in the emails that my employment was contingent upon my passing a criminal background and child abuse check nothing ever said anything about credit. So I resigned from the job I had on June 4th thinking I would be starting with this new company and received the denial of employment letter on June 7th.

    Now I am left without any finances, not eligible for unemployment and had to remove my son from preschool because I could not afford his tuition. So my question is do I have any kind of law suit?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    1,142

    Default Re: Fired Before Hired

    No. Have you filed a claim for unemployment insurance yet? You may or may not be approved in this circumstance, but it certainly doesn't hurt to file.

    Have you talked with your former employer, letting them know that you are without a job, and that you'd be available for your former position if it becomes available again? In today's labor market, an available already trained former employee might be really attractive to them.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Fired Before Hired

    Quote Quoting Not so dandy
    View Post
    So my question is do I have any kind of law suit?
    comment/ator spoke too soon, I think, in telling you no. First, under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer must do two things before it may obtain a consumer report (a term which covers both credit reports and third party employment background checks) on an employee or applicant:

    1. It must provide a stand alone conspicious notice telling the employee/applicant that a consumer report will be obtained and providing the employee/applicant a summary of his/her rights under the FCRA.

    2. It must get from the employee/applicant express written consent to obtain the report.

    Did the college do both of those things? And if they did, how were the notice and consent worded? Did they discuss consumer reports (a broad term that would cover both the the credit report and background check) or did it just say background check? The details matter, because it needed to have provided disclosure and consent that would cover the credit check. If the college did not do that then it violated the FCRA and you may have a claim for damages as a result of it.

    Apart from the FCRA issue, there is a remote chance that declining the offer based on the credit report would amount to illegal discrimination under federal law. What kind of position did you apply for and what race are you? If the position is one for which there would be no good reason for the employer to need a credit report and you are of a minority race then the employer may have an illegal race discrimination issue.

    I had thought potentially of a detrimental reliance claim, but it appears that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court killed that argument in this kind of context, making it not available in that state:

    More importantly, equitable estoppel has been affirmatively rejected by this Court as an exception to the at-will rule. In Paul v. Lankenau Hospital, 524 Pa. 90, 569 A.2d 346 (1990), we held that “[t]he doctrine of equitable estoppel is not an exception to the employment at will doctrine. An employee may be discharged with o[r] without cause, and our law does not prohibit firing an employee for relying on an employer's promise.” Id. at 95, 569 A.2d at 348. Thus, the issue of whether Appellee detrimentally relied on any promises of the Authority is simply not relevant in determining whether Appellee has a protectable property interest in his employment.

    Stumpp v. Stroudsburg Mun. Auth., 540 Pa. 391, 397, 658 A.2d 333, 336 (1995). Even in states where that claim might be a possibility the issue of damages is a problem because in most employment there is never any guarantee of how long the employment will last. You could be hired on and then fired after the first day of work, for example.

    Many lawyers that litigate wrongful discharge/illegal discrimination cases will give you free initial consultations. You lose nothing but a little of your time to see an attorney, go over the details of this, and see if you might have something to pursue.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    1,360

    Default Re: Fired Before Hired

    Quote Quoting Not so dandy
    View Post
    not eligible for unemployment
    Quote Quoting comment/ator
    View Post
    Have you filed a claim for unemployment insurance yet?
    Please file for the UI. Many states allow a claimant to collect UI when a job offer is rescinded that induced you to quit the job you had. Also, it wouldn't kill you to beg your old employer to take you back. They probably won't, but it really enhances the story when you're dealing with the UI people.

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