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Senior associate, received offer. Right before I was going to accept I get a call from potential future employer saying they received an anonymous tip that I have been fired / asked to leave from current gig. The weird part is that that is in fact a not true. I denied the wrongful accusations and HR said they will get back to me. I’m now waiting, wtf do I do???

That is weird. Who did you piss off?

Anyways, if you have written documentation giving notice, keep that as evidence. Also, talk with the HR department at your old firm about this incident and ask them to draft an official letter stating that you were not fired but left voluntarily.

Is this biglaw?

I have gone through some shady and appalling things in my NYC biglaw firm. Always crazy things do happen it seems.

Who knows about the offer? Did you post about it on Facebook/LinkedIn? Some salty boi could’ve done that.

jhett wrote:That is weird. Who did you piss off?

Anyways, if you have written documentation giving notice, keep that as evidence. Also, talk with the HR department at your old firm about this incident and ask them to draft an official letter stating that you were not fired but left voluntarily.

This is OP. I did not give notice yet, this is biglaw. No idea who I pissed off. I’m still at my old firm but want to leave.

PeanutsNJam wrote:Who knows about the offer? Did you post about it on Facebook/LinkedIn? Some salty boi could’ve done that.

Definitely didn’t post anywhere. No one really knows. Possible an associate at new firm reached out to contact at current firm who secretly hates me???

Maybe someone overheard a conversation I was having at my desk with my door closed?

Anonymous User wrote:

jhett wrote:That is weird. Who did you piss off?

Anyways, if you have written documentation giving notice, keep that as evidence. Also, talk with the HR department at your old firm about this incident and ask them to draft an official letter stating that you were not fired but left voluntarily.

This is OP. I did not give notice yet, this is biglaw. No idea who I pissed off. I’m still at my old firm but want to leave.

I like the previous poster's suggestion of having HR at your current firm draft a letter stating that you were not fired or asked to resign. But this is complicated by the fact that you haven't given notice yet.

Why not follow up with HR at your new firm and explain this situation to them? Say that you should be able to work with HR at your old firm to obtain a confirmation that you were not fired/asked to resign, but that you don't want to give notice until/unless they confirm everything else is all set. Maybe they could sign off on everything else and confirm your start date contingent on confirmation that you were not fired/asked to resign. Then you could give notice and get them that confirmation.

ETA: Your current firm's HR may have a policy that they will only confirm dates of employment, and will not disclose anything else to other employers. In that case, they should at least be able to issue you a letter confirming that you haven't been fired. You could then provide this letter to your new firm's HR.

[quote="QContinuum"]

You can try talking to HR at the new firm and asking what you can do to prove otherwise, if they have any solution they can think of. But my guess is, you've lost your shot. Once the well's been poisoned, it's hard to undo that damage. They already have reason to suspect you, and any denial of yours won't be credible. If they get a denial from a credible source, there's a good chance they won't believe you.

I'd be very wary about contacting anyone in the current firm for anything related to this. HR probably won't write such a letter, you probably won't regain the lost offer even if they did, and you really don't want it to be known in your current firm that you want to jump ship.

FND wrote:You can try talking to HR at the new firm and asking what you can do to prove otherwise, if they have any solution they can think of. But my guess is, you've lost your shot. Once the well's been poisoned, it's hard to undo that damage. They already have reason to suspect you, and any denial of yours won't be credible. If they get a denial from a credible source, there's a good chance they won't believe you.

I'd be very wary about contacting anyone in the current firm for anything related to this. HR probably won't write such a letter, you probably won't regain the lost offer even if they did, and you really don't want it to be known in your current firm that you want to jump ship.

I'd be wary too, which is why my suggestion is to talk to HR at the new firm first. If and only if they sign off on everything else and confirm OP's start date contingent on receiving confirmation that OP wasn't fired/asked to resign, only then should OP approach anyone at their current firm - HR or otherwise - to obtain that confirmation.

I absolutely agree that OP should not give notice to their current firm or raise this issue with anyone at their current firm until and unless the new firm indicates OP's offer is assured subject to receiving that confirmation.

I dont get it-- isn't the fact that you are still employed and getting paid fact enough that you were not 'fired.'

If you had committed a fireable offense, would a big law firm really take the risk of keeping you on and allowing you to both access client information and do client work? I would hope they would give you a severance and escort you out of the door that day. I wouldnt expect you to be doing great quality work if you were 'fired' 2 weeks ago. (If you were amicably asked to depart because of budget cuts or something, then I could see them keeping you on but then they would not send this letter to the new employer).

miskellyjohnson wrote:I dont get it-- isn't the fact that you are still employed and getting paid fact enough that you were not 'fired.'

It's my understanding that most large firms let you continue to work (and remain on the website) for some time after you get fired, so that fact alone might not cut it.

cavalier1138 wrote:

miskellyjohnson wrote:I dont get it-- isn't the fact that you are still employed and getting paid fact enough that you were not 'fired.'

It's my understanding that most large firms let you continue to work (and remain on the website) for some time after you get fired, so that fact alone might not cut it.

OP here, yeah thats my understanding, they definitely checked the firm website and saw that I am still on it, they just think I'm existing in that severance period

Yup and it’s hard to defend because the whole point of the agreement is they let you stay on and you get paid for x months and they won’t say you were fired.

LaLiLuLeLo wrote:Yup and it’s hard to defend because the whole point of the agreement is they let you stay on and you get paid for x months and they won’t say you were fired.

I guess thats my confusion. If what you did is bad enough that they take a risk to notify future employers (which to me means it was something very serious, like fraudulent billing or violating client trust), then I cant imagine that they would give you the courtesy of (and trust you enough during) a severance period where you keep coming in to work. If what you did is not bad, but it was just a budgetary issue or you werent billing enough, then the whole purpose of allowing you to stay on for some time is so that you could find another job, and it seems to me it wouldnt make sense that they would notify future employer. Its very odd...

Doesn’t mean it was OP’s current firm’s HR. Literally could be anyone, which is incredibly confusing and difficult to navigate for OP.

LaLiLuLeLo wrote:Doesn’t mean it was OP’s current firm’s HR. Literally could be anyone, which is incredibly confusing and difficult to navigate for OP.

I think it's almost impossible it was the current firm's HR. If it was, OP would've long ago been "counseled out" of the firm. HR doesn't do passive-aggressive.