Whistle-Blower Wonders What to Tell Future Bosses : Also . . . Can Similar Jobs Have Different Benefits? . . . A Recent Graduate Hopes to Get Unemployment Checks

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Q: After being wrongfully terminated for “whistle-blowing” from a job where I had worked less than six months, I successfully negotiated a cash settlement of all claims against my former employer, with the help of an attorney. My former boss was also subsequently fired.

What is the best way to handle questions from prospective employers regarding my reasons for leaving an excellent, career-building position after such a short time?

I am concerned that if I explain the full details of my departure, I will be branded a troublemaker. On the other hand, if I simply say that my previous boss and I had “chemistry problems,” it seems to raise more questions than it answers. Simply leaving this job off my resume, as some people have suggested, would create a big gap in employment. What do you suggest?

--G.F., Santa Ana

A: What to tell prospective employers about past employment is a common dilemma. It may drastically affect your ability to secure other employment.

If you negotiated a settlement with your former employer, there is a good chance that it included a confidentiality clause. Both you and the employer may already have an agreement as to how the termination of your employment shall be expressed to prospective employers.

The time to negotiate the very best wording is before you sign a settlement agreement. That is the time when you have power to reach an agreement on this point. Often, employers will readily agree to describe a firing as a layoff or a “reorganization.” In the alternative, they may agree to not say anything at all about your departure and give a strictly “neutral” reference. This would leave it up to you to classify your termination as you desire.

Even if you did not enter into an agreement with the employer before, you can still do it now.

It is better not to mention to a future employer that you reached a settlement with your former employer. This might imply that you are an employer attacker and scare them off. The “reorganization” explanation often works well. There is no requirement that you go into great detail as to why you left. It may be better to be as vague as possible.

It also is important to be “consistent.” It does not reflect well on you if your version about your departure is different from that of the employer. Your former employer should want to help you get other employment to take you off the state unemployment rolls, which affects the previous employer’s rates. Likewise, that employer does not want to be sued for defaming you to prospective employers, which is so serious that it carries with it triple damages and a possible criminal charge.

To determine what your former employer is saying about you, consider having a friend call about your application for employment. There are private investigative services that do this for a very low fee.

There is another alternative. If the thing that you complained about was so outrageous and dissimilar to anything that your prospective employer is doing, the best policy may be to be totally candid about your whistle blowing. The employer may appreciate your honesty and attitude.

--Don D. Sessions, Employee rights attorney, Mission Viejo

Law Lets Firms Give, Cut or Alter Benefits

Q: Is it legal for an organization to provide employees with different benefit programs? For example, an organization has made several acquisitions of smaller companies that it then rolls into one large organization. Can it legally keep the individuals from the original smaller companies on different benefit, vacation, and holiday plans, even though they may work side by side in the same building doing essentially the same job?

--K.O., Irvine

A: California law does not require an employer to offer such benefits as medical, vacation and holiday plans. Instead, these benefits are a creature of contractual arrangements between the employer and employees. Further, an employer is free to provide different benefit plans to its employees. An employer, however, may not provide different benefits plans based upon prohibitive discriminatory activities, such as race, gender, religion or national origin.

In your situation, several events might have transpired that you might not be aware of. First, when your company purchased the smaller organizations, the large organization might have agreed to maintain the benefit levels previously provided to the employees to the smaller company. Second, the larger organization might have found it economically beneficial to keep the employees of the smaller companies at previous benefit levels. Third, the employer might have decided to honor the smaller companies’ contractual obligations to employees and continue the benefits previously offered.

--William H. Hackel III, Employment law attorney, Spray, Gould & Bowers

New Graduate Faces Work Force Reentry

Q: Two years ago I quit my $35,000-a-year job to go back to school full time to finish my undergraduate degree. I’m 43 years old, and everyone is advising me that I’ll have a hard time getting back into the work force. When, if ever, would I be eligible for unemployment benefits?

--B.J., Buena Park

A: Unemployment claims are based on wages from previous employment. When a person files for benefits, a “base period” of past wages is established. This is generally the first four quarters in the last five quarters of earnings. A person who hasn’t worked for more than two years won’t have qualifying wages in the “base period” and won’t be able to establish a claim.

Further, voluntarily quitting work to return to school is not considered a “compelling” reason for leaving under the law. The person is considered out of work through his or her own actions.

--Glenn Lindsay, Manager, Unemployment insurance services, The Employers Group

The Shop Talk column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.