Wrongful Termination Question (Falsification or not)

[wrongfullyterm]

I'm in Illinois and was fired from my government job for (1) falsely stating I had not committed a felony and (2) falsely stating I had an honorable discharge on a employee PROFILE (not a resume - falsification of employee records). I did not claim veteran preference (we didn't have it at the time). The question was later removed from future profiles six months ago. In all respects it was non-relevant and not used as a hiring decision or any type of reporting, and again has been removed from profiles. I can't even go back and edit it.

Issue one concerns a court-martial conviction. I already uncovered case law concerning the classifications of felonies v. misdemeanors when there is no classification (it must be classified as a misdemeanor) and the word "conviction" itself. Also they knew about my convictions when they hired me (came up on a BG check) and kept me on the payroll for over a year. They only fired me when a new HR boss took over and a complaint was filed for something unrelated that was not substantiated. I'm not worried about that charge.

Issue two is more problematic. First I have prior honorable service, and documentation to back it up (honorable discharge orders, not the certificate, we don't get those for reenlisting). So I'll be arguing substantial truthfulness.

I want to argue also that my PROFILE on Taleo is immaterial, perhaps not an employment record. There is no reason to believe that profile information would have been shared with the employer. Second, that the question was improper unto itself (IL Human Rights Act Prohibits Discrimination based off Unfavorable Military Discharges). Again, it is not used in subsequent applications, and has been removed. They literally used this as a reason to fire me.

Q: Can improper questions, if answered (assuming) falsely, form the basis of discharge?

Q: Is a profile information an "employment record" in this case?

I see some case law concerning medical conditions as favorable, some guidance would be helpful.

 

[cbg]

I will let someone who is more knowledgeable about government positions address your questions. I will say, however, that for private employers, this would NOT be a wrongful termination as you have described it.

 

[commentator]

Since this is government civil service, it is slightly different from private sector in that you MIGHT have a ghost of a chance to appeal your termination. I would very strongly suggest that you contact and speak with an EMPLOYMENT lawyer in your area. A general one would not do so well as this is quite a specialized area. I have not seen very good results in civil service appeals for those who attempt to represent themselves, as the government entities will have attorneys on staff to defend their personnel actions.

But in my years with public service sector, the most successful appealers of "unjust" terminations have been those who immediately went out and got themselves very good employment lawyers, who will (if they take your case) immediately advise you to file for unemployment benefits. This is what I am advising you to do if you haven't already done so.

This serves two purposes. In the first place, this is the first step you need to take if terminated from any job at any time, even if you plan to appeal and sue for back pay and have the best possible case in the world. Even in the very best case scenario, it will be an extremely LONG time before anything is settled here and even if you did receive back pay, you would be able to repay unemployment benefits at that time.

Unemployment insurance is designed to provide any worker (not just the low income) with a bit of extra cash, duly paid in by the employer, to be used if they let you go through no fault of your own or terminate you without good cause.

When a claim is filed, the agency will contact your agency and request separation information in great detail. You (and your attorney) will be given access to their documentation of the reason(s) they say you were terminated. This will provide a lot of helpful information regarding any appeals and case that may later be pursued. In the meantime, you tell your side of it, they tell their side of it, and a decision will be made regarding whether or not the employer had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you, according to unemployment law. This has nothing to do with any other court, law, agency or situation, but it will provide you a lot of leads on what their strategy is, what they are citing as their termination reasons, etc.

It also, if you prevail, will give you a small spate of weekly income while you are taking the appeal further, which as I said, will take quite a bit longer and have much less immediate results. An unemployment decision takes three or four weeks. The appeals process can take up to three months. But any EEOC, ADA, veterans protection and federal civil service wrongful termination issues you are talking about would take much longer to work out, if ever. So you begin with unemployment insurance. And from what I hear, that they had prior knowledge of your "conviction" before hiring you, and then used it a year later as a reason to terminate you, it sounds as though being approved for unemployment insurance will be a pretty good shot.

But in the other areas, wrongful termination issues, I don't see much here. Your arguments and citations may come in handy in an unemployment hearing, but I'm not real sure you'll find anyone else who's interested in hearing them.

A federal agency will likely have cleared any termination action through their own legal system long before they decided to terminate you. And while in a private agency, a person can be terminated "at will" in your state at the whim of his supervisor because of something they did that made the supervisor angry, as I said, civil service puts a whole new level of requirement on it. The immediate supervisors in the particular area where you worked cannot be nearly so whimsical about termination without the involvement of others within the agency.

Run this by a good attorney specializing in employment issues. Do not try to fight this out with them yourself. But do not tarry in filing for unemployment benefits, even if you can't afford the legal consults immediately.