Unemployment Saga - Sure Would like Some Advice

He should be honest and straight forward with Wells Fargo about the issues. Atlanta traffic is hellish on a good day from what I hear so when you add in construction and accidents it's even worse.

I can see why the bank had an issue with him working through his lunch to make up time. There's mandates that businesses have to follow allowing specific amounts of time for breaks and lunches. The government can come in and audit the company time sheets at any time and if they find that breaks and lunches aren't being given they can face serious fines.

I usually get by accepting responsibility first. Perhaps it is just my personality but making excuses actually makes me more agitated. I mean hellish traffic and construction? I can only assume like most cities they start one project in one area and continue till it is done so it isn't a morning surprise, right? Most of us just groan and get up earlier until it is done. I guess I am just saying it isn't something that happens to all of us so don't act like it does.

I think another way to chill is not to look at the word falsified and think it is connected to the U5 report. It is just a choice of words. What your husband said doesn't agree with what was reported. Perhaps not the best choice of words but I don't think they are related.

I guess I am saying attitude is just as important as substance. An attitude of this is my life, I am dealing, what do you need, is much better than all this happened to me, god how much more do you need, ya know? I don't know, I just feel like an attitude of I own this and I am moving forward is easy to live with. Waiting for the next shoe to fall just causes stress.

i'm so with jo w here! i can see being late due to traffic ONCE, then you realize you need to leave the house 10/30/45 minutes earlier and carry on with arriving to work ON TIME... i think it's time to take a serious look at what HE can do to make some changes, admit his wrongs, and tell a future employer how he will change to be sure this stuff doesn't happen again... but i gotta tell you, if i were hiring, i'd be leery of someone with a recent bankruptcy combined with a history of excessive tardies to work - it just screams lack of personal responsibility :(

E.:

As a former Wells Fargo employee - the "Pre-Hire Group" is the group that does all the fact-checking - from credit report(s), banking statements, SEC filings, background investigation - whole thing.

Yes, there is a really a group of people that are assigned to vet each and every employee - especially since financial transactions are involved...they literally go through your life with a fine tooth comb.

He NEEDS to accept responsibility and acknowledge what happened at his previous job. Put it in writing - accept responsibility and state how he felt he was NOT committing fraud, etc. Keep It Simple - brief and to the point.

Same thing regarding the bankruptcy.

Hope this helps. I can tell you that during this process, Wells Fargo will appreciate honesty AND accepting of responsibility. I had a problem with my credit report - and it took me 3 months to get it fixed. I couldn't get my firm offer letter from them until it was done.

Deep breathes...let them out slowly...

Good luck!!

Hi E.,

I am a financial advisor with both series 7 and 66. I know what the U-5 is...

I would suggest that your husband provide extremely specific and very truthful information about the bankruptcy and the "falsification". If he has any documentation regarding the reporting of the bankruptcy (copies of emails to his former compliance officer or other official at previous company) that would be helpful to supply as well. How was U-5 updating done at his previous employer? We utilize a service and we are responsible for doing our own updating. Thus, it would be nearly impossible for an update to be incorrect. My previous B/D did updating by reporting in writing to the compliance officer and she took care of it.

If your husband does not get this job, than I would highly suggest he speak with some others in the area about his prospects with a blemished U-5. He may need to look for another line of work....at least temporarily. I believe that Wells REIT II is hiring - also in Metro Atlanta.

Good luck! C.

Seems like Wells Fargo wants to hire him or they wouldn't be asking for all this specific information. In any financial services occupation they want to know the specifics. Falsifying time cards is pretty benign compared to falsifying securities transaction paperwork. As for the bankrupsty - I don't think anyone really makes a big deal out of that these days. With the economy the way it's been lately there are a lot of people who have been over-extended.

I used to be a Director of Human Resources and handled lots of resumes and advised our executives on hiring decisions. This is what I would say regarding your husband if asked: Either the bankruptsy or the falsification of time cards on their own would not bother me. People get overextended on the kind of house they buy or vacations/cars they finance and they may financial mistakes. It happens and hopefully they learned this hard lesson. People also get into a situation where, due to outside circumstances they are frequently late - such as having to take a child to daycare each day when the wife picks up in the evening. But if there's lots of ongoing construction delays a mature person realizes that extra time should be factored in to the commute time - and should leave home earlier each day. The fact that time cards are falsified in itself isn't awful - but most employers would not get rid of a highly valued employee if it was only a time card issue. They may have used this as an excuse to get rid of this guy because he was underperforming or had other issues. So - taking into account both the bankruptsy and the falsified time cards it would appear that this is an person who doens't have a personal habit of discipline and self correction. Given the choice of two otherwise equal candidate I'd recommend the one who doesn't have these two issues if possible.

Now - please realize, I'm telling you what I would say, as an HR Director to a hiring manager. I don't know your husband and these conclusions could be completely wrong. He may also be a very charismatic people-person, who by nature is not real detailed oriented. It could also be that a manager at the former job told him that as long as he makes up his work he can file the time card showing on-time arrival and now that manager has left the company. Those things factor favorably, as does a solid explanation of the bankruptsy such as extraordinary medical bills, ovetended credit after cosigning a loan for a family member who deafulted, etc.

Basically, the more information provided the better his situation will be. We used to run credit checks on gasoline tanker truck drivers since a person in debt may sell a few thousand gallons of gas from his tanker to make some fast cash. But if he was able to explain why he got into debt and how he was working to get out of debt we'd hire him. But if he dodged the question or was kind of flakey we'd think the worst and assume he was a chronic gambler and would always need money ( or something else like that).

The more open and honest your hsuband is, the less he has to hide and the more candid he is, the better it is for him. The employer wants to see recognition that he made mistake, he learned from them - and they want to see what he's doing to change. If he handles it this way he will be a solid candidate for the job. Good luck mama!

Your husband has lots of excuses. I'm sure he wasn't the only one driving in on the 'hellish' traffic, but he's the only one consistently late?!! People, especially employers, hate excuses. I know traffic, Chicago traffic is ridiculous and our road construction here is insane due to how many months construction workers can actually work. What should take 30 minutes to get somewhere can take 2 hours.

I feel sorry for your stresses. Tell your husband just to be truthful and not sound like he is whining, it truly is no ones fault but his own. Until he owns up, he's always going to have problems with employment.

The bankruptcy part doesn't make any sense. How is it *not* properly reported? They just need the court paperwork and it's over. In my line of work, I have dealt with bankruptcies for two decades, it's real cut and dry; court papers and credit reports, thats it.

I am very sorry your family is having troubles right now. It is all too familiar in many households across America. You will get through this.

Now, on to your husband. Jo and the others are dead on. He needs to take responsibility for his actions. If what your post says is true, he absolutely did "falsify" his timecard. Just because he stays late some days doesn't excuse lateness in the morning if his boss expects him to be there at a certain time, nor does it excuse not properly documenting his lateness and "assuming" he made up for it by working through lunch or staying late.

It seems just from the minimal amount you have posted that your husband does have a hard time accepting responsiblity. People who file bankruptcy are doing just that - not accepting responsibilty for the debt they incurred; they incur debt and then get rid of it. Others end up "paying for" the debts the people get to write off in bankruptcy, in the form of higer interest rates and a plethora of other things. Please understand, I am NOT judging your husband (although your post does invite at least some form of it), I am simply saying the facts of what bankruptcy is/does. But again, it seems to be a pattern for your hubby to not accept responsibility.

So your husband just needs to tell his (hopefully!!) future employer exactly what happened, tell them he learned from it and that he realizes he was wrong and it won't happen again. The more he tries to run and hide from it the worse it will be.

I promise you will get through this. I think what will help you chill out is feeling like you are helping even more than working part time. Check out moneysavingmom.com - it is a WONDERFUL blog about how to scrimp and save and actually have joy and fun while doing it. You can make your own detergent, have a garden no matter where you live, shop thrift stores, the list and possibilities are endless.

Good luck

I have to say that your husband doesn't look real good here and I'm not trying to be harsh. I sympathize bc I feel like my husband also has excuses. He's a very good guy, super smart and hard working yet often some issue. So in a way I don't rely on him. I'm wondering if you should figure on working full time... Let him stay home perhaps. Sucks but I continue working full time bc I just don't feel 100% comfortable relying on my husband. And not just personality here. The most reliable guy on the planet can have job issues these days. Lots of women have to work full time for security. Add in some unreliability factors and I thnk that's what you should be considering. You need to be realistic. Constantly late as an adult gets ridiculous and a bankruptcy happens but it's not exactly a strong character reference.

E., he just needs to tell them exactly what happened. It sounds like he was an hourly employee rather than a salaried employee. I would think that they called it "falsification" because he didn't clock out for lunch when he was expected to and worked "over" without written permission.

If the bank wants to keep him, they will accept this explanation. If they don't, then they will let him go.

I take it that he didn't know what his U-5 said before he interviewed. Make sure that he gets a copy of it, especially if he loses this job. He needs to know what it says, and write an explanation of HIS point of view when interviewing for a job. He also needs to know what happened in regards to the proper reporting of the bankruptcy so that he can help prevent that. Any financial industries job he gets will require him to disclose a bankruptcy no matter how long ago it was.

I hope that they will let this go and keep him. I really do. Good luck and try to hang in there.

Dawn

He needs to be honest and let them know what happened. Honesty is the only way here. They see something and are asking. Give the answer and see what it gets him. Many companies are looking for a right fir - something small like tardiness might not matter at all. Or it could totally matter. Who knows? He should come up with a nice clean answer and have it ready for now on. Like - I live in a high traffic area. I would get to work at 9:02 or 9:03 and wrote that I was in at 9:00 am. They were letting go over some people and I was let go because that happened 2 or 3 times over the course of two years... etc.

Also, has he spoken to anyone at his old company to see if they will erase that from his file?

Good luck. And is he working at all? Is he able to collect unemployment or was this considered misconduct?

Pre-hire means the background check process. They are checking all of his data on his application to be true, his backgound (criminal/driving) and a credit check. Wells Fargo is huge - they have a department within HR to do this.

Good luck - and if he doesn't get it - tell him he should work somewhere!!