Not hired for conflict of interest

[deenie12345]

My husband and I worked together at the same company (both as supervisors) for 7 1/2 years. I resigned May 1999, and in July 1999 my husband accepted a transfer to Missouri and a promotion. Recently, several managers in the division office of this company tried to recruit me for a management position where we live. When all the details were ironed out and I had a written job offer, I resigned from another position I was to have started the next day (I didn't want to waste their time with training only to leave later). 11 days later, I was told that I couldn't have the job because my husband worked for the company in a capacity that would be a conflict of interest - though he worked in a different town. The issue of married employees working for the same company had been addressed earlier, and no one at the division level had a problem with it. This decision came from a corporate VP who wasn't even involved in the hiring process. My job offer said it was contingent on passing the rest of the screening process. Am I just out of 2 jobs or do I have some recourse?

 

[ALawyer]

You probably have some recouse, although recognize that if you seek to act the company's HR VP just may, in some way you'd never be able to trace, take it out on your husband.

Most modern companies have given up the ghost on that and in some states it may constitute discrimination on the grounds of marital status. A letter or phone call from a lawyer may get the VP or his or her boss to see the error of his or her ways.