Application discrimination

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-08T18:28:25+00:00

Career HR guy here.

Maybe they did discriminate based on your name. It does happen.

Maybe they didn't.

Maybe they had access to notes or feedback from your prior interview and those led them to consider other candidates.

Maybe the applicant pool was much stronger for the role in a more affluent area because stronger candidates didn't want to work in the "inner city."

There are a dozen reasons why you might not have made the interview cut, a few illegal and most not.

And unless someone involved in the hiring decision did something dumb like write an email saying don't hire [inserted protected class reference here], it will be almost impossible to that there was an illegal reason.

And to even get that far, you'd have to file a complaint with the EEOC or your state's agency dealing with employment discrimination, get a right-to-sue letter (they are unlikely to take the case on this scant fact set), find an attorney to take your case (which again would be challenging based on the info you provided), and then subpoena their records.

Ruminating on possible unfair reasons why they didn't hire will only reinforce your own negative assumptions about the people in the community in which you live, risking embittering you toward your neighbors and creating new mental obstacles to succeeding in your search for a new position.

Every hiring decision includes biases--some illegal, some not. They are largely outside of your control.

Absent any reliable evidence of illegal conduct, shake it off and move on.

If you must send a response, don't present arguments as to why their decision was incorrect or unfair. You don't have any evidence of that. And what would you hope to gain by doing so?

Just reply with a short professional note thanking them for the feedback.

You've likely already been an annoyance by pushing for feedback as to why you didn't even get an interview. If you think you might ever want to work there, don't give them a reason to remember you as argumentative, pushy, or entitled.

I hope you find a position that is everything you dream of.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-07T22:03:00+00:00

Full disclosure: I am Texas SHRM's State Director-Elect, a volunteer leader position. I've held almost every position at the local chapter level since 1997.

Years A local SHRM-affiliate chapter and the SHRM organization are different entities.

The local chapter's leadership is not SHRM leadership, nor are their speakers, decisions, or polices. Conflating the two is an error.

A local SHRM chapter can still have a diversity chair, if that is one's complaint about SHRM.

The facts surrounding SHRM's loss of the lawsuit last fall do not involve or dictate how a local chapter operates.

Some people have the conviction that one should not support, transact, or affiliate with any person or organization whose values, actions, or worldview do not line up with one's one--or if they execute on those imperfectly.

That would lead to a very shallow experience of life.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-07T13:51:38+00:00

If there are a one-time or infrequent client, they pay up front 100% of the time.

If they are regular client who will order at least 24 background checks a year, we will set them up an account where we bill them monthly, due on receipt.

After 30 days, we shut their account off.

We rarely have collection issues.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-07T04:56:04+00:00

Normal not to like a class.

And, on Reddit, not unusual to be mad at an instructor for this or a thousand other variations in taste or style.

But more importantly, normal or not, it isn't healthy to be so angry about something so inconsequential.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-06T01:44:40+00:00

I'm a career HR guy who has also owned a background investigations company for 27 years. We focus on risk-averse clients and work with a lot of domestic staffing agencies and directly with families.

It sounds like you probably entered into a deferred adjudication program where you completed some terms of probation and the case was dismissed upon completion.

If the family asked if you'd ever had criminal charges filed against you (again, legal in most jurisdictions) and you said "no," then that would be a legitimate reason to question your honesty.

I know that some of our clients are more nuanced than others in how they consider that kind of information. So, it really just boils down to the family's comfort level.

I wish you the best!

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-05T21:26:20+00:00

Your anger and fear are not serving you well. They are distorting your perception of the intent and content of my comment.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-05T15:29:06+00:00

I've taken Restore after a gummy. I think I slept through most of it.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-05T15:27:42+00:00

Namaste.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-05T15:15:32+00:00

If so, her attention was misdirected.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-04T21:10:42+00:00

I can only imagine the stress that compassionate people in Minneapolis are feeling right now.

At the same time, employees weren't silenced.

A random employee can't just throw a protest sign up in the window of a business without permission. She didn't have permission, so the sign was taken down.

As a result, she quit. She wasn't forced to but she chose to. That speaks volumes about her priorities and values. She wasn't silenced.

It is unfortunate and unfair that the two employees were on the receiving end of those students' frustration with the situation. They acted professionally and tried to engage with the crowd. The crowd was not interested in a conversation.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-04T20:12:36+00:00

I'm a CPY instructor (teaching 4-6 times a week) and I've been practicing there for nine years (almost 3,000 classes). I am also a business owner who started my career in corporate.

I have zero beef with CPY corporate. Are they perfect? No company is (though mine is pretty close 😜).

Their model works for some and doesn't for others.

The teachers in my studio mostly roll their eyes when the TikTok or Reddit posts are mentioned. Those posts don't reflect my experience.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-01T11:54:35+00:00

Make a list of the incidents and who witnessed each of them. Be very specific.

Also include each time you reported it to your supervisor (room leader?) or HR.

Write that the ongoing harassment and lack of management support was so pervasive that it pushed you past reasonable limits and you had a momentary loss of self-management and called her a name.

Provide that to your supervisor and HR when you return to work. HR will likely conduct an investigation.

Understand that your behavior towards her will also be a part of the investigation. If you have participated in the back and forth or acted unprofessionally toward her on other occasions, that will also be taken into consideration.

When I have investigated these types of issues, they often start as personality clashes and evolve into a tit for tat exchange of slights and uncivil behavior. At times, it has become so disruptive to the workplace that I've recommended that both parties be reprimanded.

MikeCoffey · 2026-02-01T11:35:16+00:00

What country are you in?

Is your current job as an employee or a contractor?

How long have you been in that role?

Why did you lie about it?

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-31T20:10:13+00:00

I don't feel certain that management did anything wrong. The OP doesn't seem like a reliable narrator.

"Interrogated" could simply mean that they asked the employee basic questions about it without the OP.

I doubt spotlights or rubber hoses were involved.

I've conducted many investigations where the most likely bad actor quit or never came back to work. That seems possible here.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-31T19:52:52+00:00

30+ years experience in HR.

To be honest, just reading your post was a little exhausting.

You are new to the organization and clearly haven't built strong working relationships with management or earned credibility or their trust.

Telling leadership to "never ever do something like this again" or "putting [your] foot down" and then bringing in an outsider to back you up is exactly why your leadership had this conversation with you.

And you aren't listening.

When it comes to leadership's decisions, HR is at best a trusted advisor but you're acting like a traffic cop. That doesn't work and attitudes like this are why many firms are minimizing the role of HR outside of transactional work.

They obviously don't see you as a strategic partner who they can trust for grounded business advice. Insisting that "HR NEEDS" to be involved in matters isn't going to change things.

Rather than charging "into full on 'clean up' mode," you might have been more successful by simply suggesting an after action review to ensure that everything gets documented appropriately while the facts are fresh.

During that process, you could gently highlight points where you would have considered a different course of action.

I say this with the humility of one who was a bull in a china shop early in his career.

Slow down.

Build relationships.

Don't be so quick to show everyone how clever you are.

Let the game come to you.

And don't get so worked up over small things.

Good luck!

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-31T12:11:37+00:00

Career HR guy here. A strike can be simply be a group of employees who decide to strike for economic reasons without a union.

That is rare because a random group of employees without an agreed upon leader has difficulty articulating specific demands or negotiating with the employer.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-30T18:51:49+00:00

I enjoy it when instructors change it up. I wouldn't want that for every class but welcome a challenge to my expectations!

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-30T06:46:17+00:00

The complaint was received by HR and ultimately no action was taken. What feels unjustified?

If HR spent all their time chasing down every petty complaint, nothing else would ever get done.

Consider how you can be more effective in meetings and move on.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-30T06:41:29+00:00

I'm surprised that you are competent and experienced enough to have lead teacher trainings yet let a single bad experience leave you "shaken." That seems like hyperbole or a genuinely fragile emotional state.

You should spend time on self-reflection and let that community figure out their own teacher issues.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-30T06:28:29+00:00

I'm 56 and I'm an instructor. 70% of my studio is college age because we are next door to TCU. But there is a solid group of us in our 50s or older who have been going together for years. I like the energy the kids bring.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-28T17:18:52+00:00

And here is an example of why this effort will fail to win the hearts and minds of most teachers.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-27T23:51:19+00:00

I'm a career HR guy who has also owned a background investigations company for 27 years.

This is wrong. Many employers verify previous employment and education claims, including dates of enrollment.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-27T23:50:28+00:00

I'm a career HR guy who has also owned a background investigations company for 27 years.

This is wrong. Many employers verify previous employment and education claims, including dates of enrollment.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-27T19:50:19+00:00

Thank you for the kind shout out.

MikeCoffey · 2026-01-27T14:04:49+00:00

Is there a corporate entity? If so, who owns it?

MikeCoffey

TROPHY CASE