What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
I'm in the middle of a job application for a new company. I was recently caught up in an unfortunate circumstance where I ended up being charged with a "HS Possession of a Designated Substance" CA law code 11375(b)(2).
I have not been convicted of anything yet, and I was completely open about the pending charges when I talked to my potential employer. The charge refers to a couple pills of Xanex, and it can be filed as an infraction or a misdemeanor. My potential employer assured me that such a minor charge would not be cause for them to rescind my job offer.
Based on these assurances, I submitted my letter of resignation to my current job a little while ago. Fast forward to today:
I get a phone call this afternoon from the VP of HR at the new company. He calls to tell me my job offer has been rescinded based on results from my background check saying I was being charged with "An Intent to sell Designated Substance (Xanex)" which is a felony charge mandating a minimum of 1 year in prison. This background check was run by A-Check, an outside company specializing in running background checks and doing drug tests on new potential employees.
I immediately told him there must be some mistake, and I offered to fax him a copy of the letter I got from the DA stating the real charges. I also offered to give him the phone number of my lawyer, so he could talk to him to straighten things out. The VP of HR essentially ignored all these requests and treated me like some heinous criminal.
I immediately went home to double check the charges on the letter from the DA. What I discovered is that code 11375(b)(1) is the charge for "Possession with intent to sell" the felony. I was charged with sub-section (2) which is the simple possession charge that's only a minor misdemeanor. At this point my reputation has been thoroughly destroyed at the potential new company, because the VP of HR talked with all of my potential new bosses before he rescinded the offer, and on top of everything I have already quit my current job.
So... is this grounds for a defamation suit against A-Check? The results of my background check are being sent to me, as is my right. They basically completely messed up and didn't bother to double check the results before submitting them. This is the entire point of operation for this company. Shouldn't they be required to double check their information for accuracy before ruining someone's life?
Thanks for any responses. Sorry for the slightly long-winded post.
I'm in the middle of a job application for a new company. I was recently caught up in an unfortunate circumstance where I ended up being charged with a "HS Possession of a Designated Substance" CA law code 11375(b)(2).
I have not been convicted of anything yet, and I was completely open about the pending charges when I talked to my potential employer. The charge refers to a couple pills of Xanex, and it can be filed as an infraction or a misdemeanor. My potential employer assured me that such a minor charge would not be cause for them to rescind my job offer.
Based on these assurances, I submitted my letter of resignation to my current job a little while ago. Fast forward to today:
I get a phone call this afternoon from the VP of HR at the new company. He calls to tell me my job offer has been rescinded based on results from my background check saying I was being charged with "An Intent to sell Designated Substance (Xanex)" which is a felony charge mandating a minimum of 1 year in prison. This background check was run by A-Check, an outside company specializing in running background checks and doing drug tests on new potential employees.
I immediately told him there must be some mistake, and I offered to fax him a copy of the letter I got from the DA stating the real charges. I also offered to give him the phone number of my lawyer, so he could talk to him to straighten things out. The VP of HR essentially ignored all these requests and treated me like some heinous criminal.
I immediately went home to double check the charges on the letter from the DA. What I discovered is that code 11375(b)(1) is the charge for "Possession with intent to sell" the felony. I was charged with sub-section (2) which is the simple possession charge that's only a minor misdemeanor. At this point my reputation has been thoroughly destroyed at the potential new company, because the VP of HR talked with all of my potential new bosses before he rescinded the offer, and on top of everything I have already quit my current job.
So... is this grounds for a defamation suit against A-Check? The results of my background check are being sent to me, as is my right. They basically completely messed up and didn't bother to double check the results before submitting them. This is the entire point of operation for this company. Shouldn't they be required to double check their information for accuracy before ruining someone's life?
Thanks for any responses. Sorry for the slightly long-winded post.