getting employment with a bankruptcy

[tma]

My husband and I filed for chapter 7 this past February 08

My husband recently applied for a new job and got to the final stages of the interview process. The company he was applying for went as far as checking his personal references in addition to a background check.

After a couple of days of my husband giving consent to do a background check, the human recources department called to tell him they were going with another candidate.

Approximately 2 weeks later we received an emloyment disclosure report.(by mail)
my husbands criminal background is perfectly clean. However, the bankruptcy is reported as a chapter7 discharged.

My heart of hearts is that my husband was declined for the position due to the bankruptcy. Is this legal? Is this discrimination? And can we really prove anything?

Will a bankruptcy on your record be a deciding factor of your character and employment.....with NO criminal background??

We have never felt so judged... like we are criminals.

Can anyone relate?

[liz417]

No it is not legal, but how would you prove that's why your hubby didn't get the job? I would just move on, it wasn't meant to be...he'll find an ever better job soon! Good Luck!

[magyar123]

What exact reason did they state for not hiring him? Not that it really matters, employers usually weasel themselves out by "we hired someone with better qualifications, stronger background". And you can't prove otherwise.

[Flamingo]

Do a search on here as to employment and bankruptcy. Your situation and similar situations have been discussed many times on here. An employer does not have to hire a person if there is a BK on his/her record. It is not discriminatory (think race, creed, sex, disabled, etc.) and most financial institutions are right up blunt about stating that you will go through a full background check and credit check, even fingerprinting, and if you have bad credit or BK on your records, you may not be hired or they just will not hire you. The only time it could be a problem is if the person was already working for the employer and the employer fired the person just due to the bankruptcy only. Many employers, usually in the financial sector, have policies in place to protect themselves against embezzlement and fraud and those policies extend to who they hire. While you may find that horrid, you need to put yourself in their shoes and think of who you would hire if that person had access to accounts, cash, checks, SS numbers, etc. Unfortunately, BK has the stigma in the financial world of indicating the person filing cannot handle their money well and is irresponsible; therefore, that person could be more prone to try to embezzle, steal identities to obtain cash/items, etc. While we all know none of us would ever do that, there are those that do and have done so, so the banks/financial entities and other employers protect themselves. If there are other candidates for the position with similar or better qualifications and no BK or bad credit on their reports, the employer will go for that candidate over the person with the BK/bad credit. It is legal and most large companies have General Counsel in place to watch over these situations along with their HR Departments.

There are exceptions to this and many people still get hired with BKs on their records as many in this forum can attest. A way around all this is to be upfront and honest at the right time during an interview when the discussion comes up as to any background or credit check. If you explain why the BK occurred (i.e., job loss and loss of income, major medical situation, divorce, etc.) you have a good, valid reason why you had to file and that could work in your favor.

Yes, it is difficult to go through but it is common knowledge that if you file BK, finding a job while the BK is on your credit reports (7 years for a Chapter 13, 10 years for a Chapter 7) could be difficult but not impossible.

[Jason2000]

What kind of job was it? Financial?

[banca rotta]

Was it a Government job or a job in financial services?


I wonder what these employers are going to do in a few years when unemployment rises, and health benefits are being cut more and more all of which is causing plenty more bankruptcies.

This bunch that judges someone's ability due to a bankruptcy is a bunch of elitist thugs! So much talent all throughout history went bankrupt and bounced back better then ever.

Even if this was a govt or financial service job so what. These two sectors are failing all of us by mis managing far more money then any of us could have ever hoped to do.


Good luck in the job search.