Law Blog

This may be old news to some, but I recently stumbled across this little gem. Yes, you read that correctly: a recent graduate of a college in New York has sued her alma mater because she can’t find a job…after a grueling 3 month job hunt.

The economy is in the tank, but it has been particularly stressful for recent college and professional school graduates looking for their first “real” job. Combine this with the stress of being unceremoniously thrust into the real world (a stressful period in one’s life in the best of times), and you can understand the anxiety and frustration that many people are feeling, especially when they have massive student loan debt hanging over their heads.

But it should go without saying that this is not the way to go about improving your lot in life. First of all, most people assume (correctly) that school career services are supposed to be tools for students to use in their own job hunt – they don’t exist to hand recent graduates a job on a silver platter.

According to the story, this student graduated with a GPA of 2.7, and her crowning academic achievement is a “solid attendance record”. Oh, but it gets better. According to the recent grad, “They’re supposed to say, ‘I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right — can you interview this person?’” On what planet? Once again, career services offices exist to help you in your job hunt, not to find jobs for you.

In a recent post I talked about the importance of managing one’s online presence, and about the fact that filing a lawsuit, even if it has merit (which this one definitely does not), is not always the best way to accomplish one’s ultimate objectives. In my earlier post, I noted how the mere fact that the apartment manager filed a lawsuit over a single Tweet did far more damage to its reputation that the Tweet ever could have.

Here, it is clear that the unfortunate alumna, by filing this lawsuit (and agreeing to be interviewed by CNN), has done irreparable damage to her future employment prospects, regardless of the state of the job market. A quick Google search for her name returns nothing but news articles and discussions related to this story on the first page.

It is now common practice for employers to run internet searches on prospective employees. In this case, do you think an employer would like what he or she is bound to find?

It’s probably been said before, by people more eloquent than me, but it bears repeating: Think before you sue.

With the U.S. economy spiraling further down the seemingly endless pit of economic ruin, it’s no surprise that unemployment rates are on the rise across the nation.  Almost every industry has been hurting, especially those in the technology sector.

To the lucky few fortunate enough to have dodged the wave of layoffs, as they say, go the spoils.  Only in this case instead of getting those same old boring rewards, this elite group gets the extra special gift of actually keeping their menial soul-draining jobs, but without all that unnecessary stuff, like shorter hours or, you know, more money.  At least they’ll get yolked (it’s slang people, get with it) since they’ll have to do the work of three people just to keep said soul-crushing job.

But with being fired inevitably comes the stages of job loss (which by the way seem suspiciously similar to some other grief process – I think the Kübler-Ross estate might have a lawsuit).  There’s no better feeling than finally getting over being let go, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, and then hiring an attorney to file a wrongful termination suit against your old employer.  Ahhhh, sweet revenge, I’ve missed you…

All joking aside, wrongful termination is a real and serious issue.  Homelessness is on the rise and as this economy continues to tank, more and more people will likely be fired from their jobs.  Unemployment doesn’t only destroy a person’s financial livelihood.  It can also damage a person’s self-worth, not to mention obliterate a marriage.  Finding out whether you’ve been wrongly terminated from your job can be difficult, especially in a bad economy where an unjust firing can easily be passed off as a cost-cutting layoff.  But if there’s one thing that is certain, when people are pushed into a corner, they’ll likely fight back.

In fact, according to our client case database, in the month of June alone LegalMatch.com has seen a nearly 100 percent increase in the total number of wrongful termination cases brought by our clients when compared to the same month in 2008.  Furthermore, the average number of wrongful termination cases handled by LegalMatch.com has consistently increased by approximately 20 percent over the past four fiscal quarters.  Those employed under at-will contracts in the retail, transportation, or manufacturing industries were most likely to bring a claim for wrongful termination, making up nearly one-third of all wrongful termination cases LegalMatch.com received.  These figures increased in portion to the sagging US economy.

So what can you do if you think you’ve been wrongly terminated from your job?  First thing would be to see if you qualify under any of these exceptions:

• Discrimination – The employer cannot terminate employment because the employee is a certain race, nationality, religion, sex, age, or in some states, sexual orientation.
• Retaliation – An employer cannot fire an employee because the employee filed a claim of discrimination or is participating in an investigation for discrimination. This “retaliation” is forbidden under civil rights law.
• Contractual Employees – Generally, an employee with an employment contract can only be terminated for the reasons stated in the contract. Employment contracts for specified periods of time or permitting terminations only for specific reasons are rare today.
• Illegal Acts -An employer is not permitted to fire an employee because the employee refuses to commit an act that is illegal.
• Family or Medical Leave – Federal law permits most employees to take a leave of absence for specific family or medical problems. An employer is not permitted to fire an employee who takes family or medical leave for a reason outlined in the Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Not Following Own Termination Procedures – Often, the employee handbook or company policy outlines a procedure that must be followed before an employee is terminated. If the employer fires an employee without following this procedure, the employee may have a claim for wrongful termination.

However, the best way to find out whether your termination was wrongful would be to consult with a qualified employment lawyer who can sit down with you and walk you through your options.  Otherwise you might end up like this guy.

First, what is social medial marketing? Essentially, social media is a blend of social outreach and internet technology, achieved principally through blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Linkedin.  While these Internet tools allow people to connect to other people of all age groups, they have also become the new “feeding ground” for employers seeking to learn more about a potential employee than they can discover through a resume. In fact, according to employeescreenIQ, 56% of what is written on a resume is padded.  (Company Unveils List of 2009 Background Screening Checks)

In 2006, CareerBuilder.com reported results of a survey that they conducted of over 1,000 hiring managers.  Results indicated that 12% of these managers used social media websites to verify information about a job candidate, with 63% not hiring a candidate based upon the information that they found. (Background Check News)

Today, as quoted from one blog, almost 40% of employers have used Facebook and other social media sites to obtain information about job candidates, and greater than 80% of employers found negative information about the potential employee that may have lead to the candidate not being extended a job offer.  (Employment Background Checks) 

Clearly, taking control of one’s public persona is critical for anyone in the job market.  However, employers could also subject themselves to litigation for negligent hiring practices through the use of social media when making employment decisions.  So, far, no one has made this challenge but expect this to come.

Social media marketing is not only being used by prospective employers but a new crime is on the rise – social media identity theft.  St. Louis Cardinals MLB team manager Tony La Russa was a recent victim.  An identify thief created a Twitter account using Tony’s name and image, posting defamatory remarks on the account.  La Russa sued Twitter and the case is currently pending in court.  La Russa wasn’t alone; impersonators hacked into President Obama’s Twitter account, as well as the Twitter accounts of Britney Spears and Bill O’Reilly at Fox News.  (Twitter, Social Media Indentity Theft & Personal Background Checks)

Prosecutors are also using social media to their advantage.  A 22-year old woman charged with a fatal DUI, faced a 5 year sentence after photos of her on her MySpace page after the accident depicted her with tequila, shot glasses and a T-shirt labeled, “Jail Bird?” came up at trial despite the warnings of her defense attorney.  (Unrepentant on Facebook? Expect jail time)  And, a YouTube video was elevated to fame in 2008 when Ms. Trisha Walsh Smith made a video about her acrimonious divorce from Phillip Smith, a Broadway giant.  Smith complained about her prenuptial agreement and made disparaging remarks about her then current husband.  The New York County judge granted the husband a divorce on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment.  (Inside the YouTube Divorce)

If these stories don’t cause you to rethink what you may have posted on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, maybe they should give you pause for thought.  Depending upon what you have posted, you could lose a job opportunity or worse.  Count on LegalMatch to continue to monitor these trends; we expect more litigation to revolve around the use of social media.  But, don’t say we didn’t warn you.  Be careful what you write!