Hired for wrong job, fired for lack of experience?!?
Hired through an employment agency to process home loans for a well established bank.
I let them know I had no previous mortgage experience, and was told not to worry, they have a three week training program.
After two weeks on the floor I requested additional training, and got an hour at my desk.
The following week I was fired by the employment agency as a request from the bank for lack of performance with no prior meetings.
I looked on the banks employment website for the "exact" position title, and the requirements were no less than 3 years mortgage experience.
I understand Arizona is an "At-Will" state, not to mention I was a contract employee under the agencies guidelines, not necessarily the banks.
My question is, do I have any recourse, and if so, against whom?
Thanks
Answers (1)
As you correctly noted, Arizona's recognitiion of "at will" employment means that an employer doesn't need a reason to fire you. If the employer needed a reason, your inability to perform the job would probably be enough. But you have to ask a more fundamental question. How have you been harmed and who harmed you? You might be able to argue that the agency was negligent in evaluating you for the job, and never should have placed you there. But if it hadn't, where would you be? Did you give up another opportunity to take this job? Is that opportunity now gone? If so, perhaps the agency owes you an explanation, if not compensation for having improperly placed you in a position for which you were not suited. Did you pay the agency a fee for placing you? Or did the employer? It may be the employer who has the claim against the agency for its mistake. If the agency told the employer of your lack of experience and the employer was willing to give you a chance anyhow, it doesn't sound like anyone has done you a disservice, despite the fact that the job proved more difficult than you might have been led to believe. It was the hiring, not the termination, that was wrongful, but there is no such thing as a claim for damages for wrongful hiring.
posted by Francis Fanning | Mar 9, 2004 12:58 PM [EST]
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