Q: I was working for a company for over a year And they fired me for something on my background that was over 5 years ago
I have been a driver for Lyft over a years now. And they fired me for something on my background that has been on there for over five years now. When i first started they did a background check with a company Call Checker over a year ago i was good to drive and another sometime in the middle of the year everything also was clear and then recently did another one mind you with the same company and i was fired. If i would of know there where gonna have me work and then fire me a year later i would have pursued other sources of employment and never have wasted my time at that company.
A: Sorry to hear about your situation. Keep in mind Illinois is an "at will" employment jurisdiction, meaning your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at all. Thus even if your employer was wrong or unfair about background check, the firing is likely still legal. I hope that helps.
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A:
I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with Lyft, but please understand you are likely not an employee but rather an independent contractor. Employees vs. Independent Contractors have very different legal rights, as most local, state and federal employment laws only protect bona fide employees.
If you feel like your arrest record or background check was illegally processed, consider reaching out to the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR). The IDHR investigates charges of Employment discrimination filed against private employers, state or local government, unions and employment agencies. Your deadline to do so is very short, so please be advised you should take immediate action to preserve any legal rights.
See:
https://www2.illinois.gov/dhr/FilingaCharge/Pages/Employment.aspx
Otherwise, consider looking at similar services like Lyft - such as Uber, UberEats, DoorDash, GrubHub, etc. You might qualify to provide services for non-Lyft companies depending on the driver standards with other entities.
Wishing you the best.
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