You Have a Very Specific Set of Skills (and No Job): How an Employment Attorney Helps
Posted on: 3 August 2017
Liam Neeson is now an iconic actor for the line, "I have a very specific set of skills...". Your specific set of skills may not be the same as those of the character Mr. Neeson portrayed, but your skills may frequently leave you unemployed. Sometimes you are a shoe-in for a job, but you are denied without reason. This is where an employment attorney can come to your rescue.
A Case of Discrimination
It is difficult to prove cases of employment discrimination without blatant proof. However, if your skill set and experience matched the employer's needs perfectly, but you are a minority or female, you may have a discrimination case. If there is a case of discrimination based on gender, your lawyer will be able to detect it rather quickly through a series of targeted questions. If you think the case is based on race or some other form of discrimination, your lawyer may ask further questions to uncover the type of discrimination.
Request an Explanation
When you apply for a job, an employer is not required to give a reason why you were not selected. This holds true regardless of your niche education and training. However, you could hire the lawyer and have him/her request an explanation in writing. Just give this option some serious consideration, as that particular employer may be less willing to hire you in the future if you reapply. If you would rather know the reason why rather than give the job opportunity a second shot in the future, your lawyer can get the specific details of why you were not hired from this employer.
Responding to Reports of Negative References
Usually, when you ask someone to be a reference for you for a job, you expect positive responses. If you find out that a former employer agreed to be a positive reference for a new job and then completely bombed your chances with negative references/responses to questions, you can sue that former employer. The employment lawyer can write the previous employer to explain that what he/she did was illegal and that there will be a pending lawsuit.
While that does not restore your opportunity with a new employer, it may provide you with up to a year's wages if you win your case. The alternative is to remove this former employer from your list of references and walk away. While that seems rather unfair, it is less expensive than pursuing a lawsuit against that employer in the hopes of getting lost wages.
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