[Martina]

I was fired from my job in January because of my mental illness. Well, not exactly, but they were trying to find a way to get rid of me ever since I told them about it last summer. I had to tell them about it, because I landed in the hospital several times and missed a LOT of work. I had 3 suicide attempts in 2 months and one hypomanic episode. Anyway, I missed too much work and my boss finally let me go because I called in sick one too many times.

Anyway...how do I explain how I lost my job? I really don't want to tell my future employer about my illness, ever.

At my last interview, I said I had a "medical condition" that caused me to miss a lot of work, but it was under control now and I did not expect to miss much more work. They asked if it was an ongoing condition and I said yes, but it's under control.

Was that the right way to go? How would you have done differently?

Am I lying to say I don't expect any more problems? Fact is I could easily go unstable at any moment. Yes, I'm medicated now and in therapy and doing well - last summer I had only barely begun treatment.

[Perna]

No, you're not lying, no one "expects" problems (or presumably you wouldn't be looking for a job?) and I like how you handled it.

They were perhaps asking for insurance reasons. My girlfriend didn't tell her prospective employer about her breast cancer and suddenly, after she got hired, the employer's insurance costs went WAY up :-) and the company asked the insurance people why and were not happy when they learned why (the insurance companies know) but, fortunately, she was so good at her job and they really liked her that she wasn't laid off or fired or anything.

[cantstopcrying]

Our comapny has what is called "at-will", which means you can be fired at any time with no explanation given. That is always the reason we give even if there is a reason because this is such a litiginous society, they are afraid of getting sued. When we hire in, we sign a sheet saying we know they are an at-will employer. It rather sucks big time for the employee, but we've only let one person go for truly no valid reason (another employee didn't like her); everyone else should pretty much know why they were let go. Anyway, when called for job history verification, our lawyers have said that we can only verify employment dates--we cannot say why they were let go, we cannot say whether they were good employees. We have fund in our own hiring process, most places are like that. So basically you are safe in saying you were let go at-will (at the will of the employer), but how you handled it was absolutely fine. They cannot ask questions about health unless it impacts your ability to do your job---say if you were hiring in for a cashier that required standing for 8 hours a day and you were unable to do that. And if by chance the companies insurance rates do go up because of your medical history, they CANNOT fire you (but if they are at-will, they can let you go without saying why).

[Martina]

Yeah, about the insurance, I thought it was illegal to fire / not hire based on possible increased insurance costs? But maybe I'm wrong.

[Perna]

I don't know either; I could see not firing just because someone gets sick/more expensive while they work for you but I wouldn't think it would be illegal not to hire someone who will cause your business expenses to go up and/or at least have to be told that's going to happen, that's only good business sense. But if you don't tell them what's wrong with you, they can't know/judge whether you're a risk of any sort or not so might not hire you because you're too "iffy" to them. That's perfectly legitimate, if they don't think you'll suit, whether because of your previous history or not. You can't legislate making someone hire people who one thinks may/may not have a problem. I would think it would come down to who else is applying for the job you are and whether they really need someone in that job (if you're the only one applying) or can wait a bit for other applicants.

They're businesses, and have to stay profitable. They can't be too charitable; that's why handicapped workers are in programs so the State gives an employer tax credits to employ them and "accommodate" for that worker, etc.. I have a good friend I worked with who is quadriplegic and the State trained him and got him placed in a job, etc. but he gets laid off from jobs sooner rather than later during any downturn because he's the least cost effective human resource to keep. That's what business is. And the smaller the business, the less flexible they can afford to be.

If you can "afford" to, I'd try for a job "lower" than you would like and re-establish your health/hiring history or create a new image. Taking a class or two in college and working part-time, maybe even in a couple little jobs, gives a legitimate "background" and then the "gap" between the job where you were fired and when you apply for a better job can be covered with "I wanted to go back to school and take these courses" or, "I was exploring personal interests" and you don't have to mention how you left that job, you can just say "personal project" or something to explain your illness; you did learn stuff from it didn't you? LOL. That's how I've explained therapy before. Taking business, accounting, computer, etc. courses make you look like you're interested in getting ahead in the business world and finding a comparable job where you can use some aspect of whatever types of courses you're taking gives you a new image and takes away from any negative you may have had from your illness. Go sideways :-) for a little instead of "next".