I was recently offered a gig at Merrill Lynch which I accepted....BUT a couple days after I got my welcome package in the mail I was advised via telephone that I could not get the job because.....While Merrill allows employment with having a felony conviction over 10 years old....Bank of America which recently acquired Merrill wants no felonies per the FDIC... Merrill gave me my starting date...Everything....then just pulled the rug from under my feet 3 days before training. There was no disclaimer in all of the forms that I signed advising that BOA does not allow felony convictions.. Can I get a lawsuit out of this since BOA/Merrill never advised me of the FDIC regulation? Isn't that something that I am supposed to be adivsed of during the screening process....a friend of mines recently got hired at TD Bank and he advised that they had a room full of applicants and the recruiter told them all before they even got started that there were a few legal matters to discuss first.....then the recruiter said that anyone with specific felony convictions ever in their lifetime could not be hired by TD...thus saving folks some time by sticking around the applicant conference for nothing...... I actually walked out on a job for Merrill...
Doubt you have a case. It sucks this happened to you... but considering employment is at-will in the first place, they could've fired you for any reason/no reason at any point, anyways. You can always scour through their employment manual and see if there are specific steps that should've been taken in a "firing"... but I doubt that would help you, and you'd still have to get over the legal question of whether it applies to you in the first place.
You have no case according to my lawyer friend drinking Sam Adams in my office right now with me. If you can prove some sort of "damages" as a result of their non disclosure, you might get a few grand out of them for you to go away which would require hiring a lawyer and making a deposition. See if you can find a good labor lawyer to take the case, I seriously hope you don't take the advice of this website as gospel! Is it worth it?
Being a felon does not make you a member of a protected class. They can fire you for that. As previously pointed out, it's at-will employment. Furthermore, you attitude blows. So BoA, now owner of Merrill, can't hire you because doing so violates FDIC regulations; Somehow this means you are wronged? Good thing you aren't being let into this business; There are enough idiots ruining everyone's reputation as is.
For future reference, depending upon the state where you were convicted, you may be able to get the conviction expunged. Thus, there would no longer be a record of your conviction, and you could legally state no have never been convicted.
Even tho it is "expunged" does not mean it is gone. It is only removed from public records that anyone can access: law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as FINRA or FDIC have access to these expunged records, and lying about not having a conviction, while splitting hairs, could come back to bite you in the ass. The only way to remove it entirely is to get a pardon (you can get one on the state level from the governor, it doesn't have to be a presidential) pardon) but that takes some major political a$$-kissing and a well connected lawyer.
Thanks for the responses.....it just really bothers me that the head of security himself says that he encounters this issue twice a month since ML became BOA.. and the "powers that be" could care less... he advised me that he has brought the fact that THEY ASK if you have been convicted within 10 years to their attention...and advised them to rephrase that portion of the document to ADVISE that one is disqualified automatically if there are any felony convictions on record ...and they have yet to address the pre employment documents and that is bull.....and one can seek civil suits for this type of TORT...as long as there is emotional distress and negligence involved....their NOT addressing a known issue is negligent...since they are clearly aware.... and for the c*nt that think my attitude blows... I have a wife and two children to take care of.....
Not for nothing, but if this guy knows about this problem because it happens frequently since BofA took over ML, then why is he offering the position in the first place knowing that you can't take it? The problem lies not with you but with this jack-off who offers a position knowing that the PTB will say no. Unbelievable! Go over his head and write someone about how this mook is dangling these jobs before prospectives' eyes knowing it's b.s.
The guy I mentioned is head of security...after the recruiter called me back to advise that the offer could no longer be extended I started asking questions...cause I answered everything correctly on the pre employment forms and was completely dumb fownded...she then gave me the number for the guy that runs the department that does the finger printing and such.. He is the one that advised me that he runs into this a couple times a month...but you know how companies are...it takes several folks and several documents to get a damn light bulb changed...