Hello,

I am new to this website but was motivated to check it out as a roomate of mine was declined PT employment by UPS because he's on probation. I understand that a private company can pretty much hire or fire for any reason in Massachusetts. However, this fellow would greatly benefit from this type of job. He has a partial disability which he didn't disclose at time of interview. Could you or anyone you know here offer any future advice for him re: interviewing? I do not know when his probation is up. I do know, however, that the HR person also stated that he was not hired because he filled out his application in blue ink. Perfectly legal but, in my opinion, very lame.

Thank you for any input.

Gutbuster42

I would suggest that your friend work with his probation officer to obtain employment - they have access to a wealth of resources, and are a good place to start.

The fact that someone is on probation does not mean that they cannot be hired. However, depending on the nature of the offense that they were convicted for, certain jobs may be off-limits.

I hope this helps!
Amy

P.S. Most of the business world seems to prefer black ink - suggest to him that he should fill out all applications in black ink from now on! :-)

He was not wanted by that employer for whatever the reason.--- All that aside, your friend may want to look at employment applications and decide if he wants to apply based on the questions asked. If he has to disclose the probation, he needs to find out if that is a deal killer. If it is, dont bother to apply. Some employers regularly deal with employees with these issues and just want to make sure they are not a pedophile, thief or something like that. They have job relevant reasons to ask, but will not automatically exclude based on the answer. Otherwise, he may want to network among those he knows to get jobs where others can refer him to the position.-- As for the black ink, blue ink-- black is most preferred in business, but blue that is normal blue ink is not necessarily outlawed.