A Question

A question for the retail world from an anonymous commenter:

what can a employee do if she find out ofter three years that her former boss put on her record that she quit without notice when she did not. she gave her two weeks notice and work up to the last day.

My response:

Are you sure it wasn't a mistake? At my store when an employee quits or is fired I have to fill out a form with different check boxes with, among other things, whether notice was given. If I'm taking care of a lot of paperwork at one time or it's late in the day or I'm tired or something, I might accidentally check the wrong box.

Assuming it wasn't a mistake and instead it was a vindictive thing….did you give notice verbally or in writing? Were there any witnesses? Are old work schedules kept that could show you working up to the last day and not scheduled the next week……depending on the relationship between when your last day was and when the schedules are made.

I don't understand from the question whether this happened after three years of working there or it's three years after you quit and you just found out about it. If it's three years later and you're just now finding this out, I assume you've been working somewhere else since then. Does it really matter at this point how the records indicate that you quit? If you plan on ever working for that company again, it probably does matter. Otherwise, your record at your current job should count for more than a previous job.

If you feel the need to have the record changed, then contact the head office and see if they show any interest in cooperating. If you had trouble with that boss, perhaps others did too. Perhaps a regional manager or a shift manager would vouch for your character. This is assuming that you have an otherwise good record with the company. Personally if an unknown previous employee came to me with your complaint, I would be much more likely to investigate if the employee had an otherwise stellar file. If the employee had frequent disciplinary actions, a bad attendance record, poor reviews, etc……I don't know that I would do anything at all.

If the head office isn't willing to investigate, you could try contacting your local equivalent of a labor board or a lawyer, but if there were no witnesses to your giving notice and it's been three years, I don't know that anyone will do much of anything.

Other advice?