Finding a job after dismissal for gross misconduct

nervousnelly_2

My husband has been sacked for gross misconduct. Basically he was overworked and denied off days, and falsified information at work to get some off days. I posted a thread about that before (can't post the URL up for some reason, as the websites say I'm a "new user")

Now he's looking for jobs but is really worried about what to say or put down on his CV because of this dismissal. It looks bad, but he is highly qualified in his field and it's quite a niche field so there are not really many people as well qualified as he is in this country alone. One of the senior management in his ex-company (the one that fired him) is willing to give a good reference for him as he had an excellent track record. He said to him to put his phone number down as a reference for any future jobs he applies for. Althogh he is not going to lie and say he resigned... so the fact that he was fired for gross misconduct will be mentioned IF he was asked.

It seems a real waste for him to have to stop working in this field now and the hope is that he can one day return to this again.

I'm just helping him find out what is the best way to go about job hunting. A few options that came up to me were :

1) He works in odd jobs (permanent low paid ones if he can find them) in unrelated fields for 1 or 2 years. Accumulates some new references, after which, he applies for jobs in his field and hopes they won't call his old employer up (the one who fired him).

2) He finds similar work in the country where his elderly parents are settled, and then works there for 1 to 2 years, before trying to apply for jobs in UK again in his field. Hopefully he would have built up at least 1 or 2 new references during that period, which may then make it less likely that future employers will contact the old employers who did fire him for gross misconduct.

2) He applies for jobs in his field now, but has to explain at interview why he left the job and be honest about it. But by doing this, he risks jeopardising all his future chances of getting hired again in this country, if the other employers in his field find out about what he did and think he's too big a risk to hire.

He screwed up big time by doing what he did to get sacked... and he's really remorseful, but this is an industry which he spent almost all of his 20 years of working life in... he started at the bottom, worked his way up.

I'd really appreciate any advice regarding this. Thanks in advance.

Horace

New users of MSE are not allowed to post links - this has been the case for awhile because people would register and turn the site into a spam fest.

p00hsticks

nervousnelly wrote: »

I posted a thread about that before (can't post the URL up for some reason, as the websites say I'm a "new user")

To provide the background, your other thread is here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...7134&highlight=

p00hsticks

nervousnelly wrote: »

1) He works in odd jobs (permanent low paid ones if he can find them) in unrelated fields for 1 or 2 years. Accumulates some new references, after which, he applies for jobs in his field and hopes they won't call his old employer up (the one who fired him).

I'm no expert but I can't see that this option will make things any better in terms of reference. The new potential employer is likely to want to go back for a reference to the last job he had in the same field, and will also be curious as to why he has been doing unrelated lower apid work in the interim.

Denning.

Ask the director to only provide time and job title. Nothing else.

nervousnelly_2

The HR person made it clear to him that they cannot lie. Yes they usually, for legal reasons, only provide starting and end dates of employment, but they did say they will also put the reason for his reason was dismissal by gross misconduct.
So if HR was asked to provide a reference for him, they will say that.

But the director himself, on account of goodwill, will not disclose how he left the company unless asked. But he won't lie.

Denning.

nervousnelly wrote: »

The director and the HR person made it clear to him that they cannot lie. Yes they usually, for legal reasons, only provide starting and end dates of employment, but they did say they will also put the reason for his reason was dismissal by gross misconduct.

Refusing to answer a question isn't lying. Not volunteering a reason for leaving is not lying.

littlemisssunshinee

I think it depends a bit on the particular field he is working in, and also how employable he would be if it wasn't for being fired.

I wouldn't mention what happened before an interview. My advice would be to see whether he gets offered a job, then at that point explain the situation. I don't think references are followed up unless you are actually offered a job, that way he won't tell all companies what has happened, only those who are actually interested in employing him.

This is only based on how I'd feel as a recruiting manager.

nervousnelly_2

Denning. wrote: »

Refusing to answer a question isn't lying. Not volunteering a reason for leaving is not lying.

I recall reading up some online website about references a few days ago, and it said that companies can disclose any details of disciplinary or dismissal that happened to an ex-employee to avoid being sued by the company which takes on the ex-employee, if the ex-employee committed serious offences at work again. Basically the other company can sue the ex-company for not telling them that this employee was a risk.

nervousnelly_2

littlemisssunshinee wrote: »

I think it depends a bit on the particular field he is working in, and also how employable he would be if it wasn't for being fired.

I wouldn't mention what happened before an interview. My advice would be to see whether he gets offered a job, then at that point explain the situation. I don't think references are followed up unless you are actually offered a job, that way he won't tell all companies what has happened, only those who are actually interested in employing him.

This is only based on how I'd feel as a recruiting manager.

If he wasn't fired, he would be very employable in his field, yes. Thanks for your advice. I think his course of action now would be to not mention the reasons for leaving his job in his cover letter (he had originally typed out a cover letter explaining the reasons for leaving... he's scrapping that now), and put there that he'll provide references upon request. What do you think about that?

Denning.

nervousnelly wrote: »

I recall reading up some online website about references a few days ago, and it said that companies can disclose any details of disciplinary or dismissal that happened to an ex-employee to avoid being sued by the company which takes on the ex-employee, if the ex-employee committed serious offences at work again. Basically the other company can sue the ex-company for not telling them that this employee was a risk.

That's false. If the reference was misleading then the new employer could sue the old employer. However there is no duty to answer any question.