Class action lawsuit

[paradoxical]

Does anyone know if participating in a class action lawsuit will show up on a background check? Last week, I received a letter from a claims administrator allowing me to either opt-in or opt-out of a class action lawsuit settlement that had been filed against a former employer of mine. The company failed to properly pay wages to its employees for all hours worked and to timely pay final wages at the end of employment. I experienced all of this and more while working for them but my concern is that this will come back to haunt me.

I know that companies try not to hire anyone who has filed a Workers Comp claim in the past and I have often seen this question asked on job applications. What about being a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit? I think I remember seeing this question on applications but I'm not sure. Plus I imagine a background check would reveal this information. I don't stand to gain much, but it would be a little bit of money and I'm currently unemployed. What do you guys think? Should I go for it? I just don't want this to come back to haunt me, the way some people have suffered for filing valid Workers Compensation claims.

There's already a lot of discrimination involved in the hiring process and I'm sure most companies would want nothing to do with someone who received money from a lawsuit for not being paid wages. It's like they feel it is their right to make you start work early off the clock and make you work late without paying you overtime. Most employees just go along with it, but I guess most managers would figure that someone who knows that this practice is illegal will not go along with the program and may become a "problem" employee.

[Charles Darnay]

(The following is subject to which country you are living in)

Legally, when an employer runs a background check and contacts you past employers, said past employer can say anything they want as long as it is factual. So, someone at this company you are suing can mention that you are suing the company. That being said, I don't know if it is in that company's best interest to broadcast the fact that it is being sued. Employers tend to be careful when providing information, because defamation suits for such checks from formal employees are not uncommon. Usually an employer will just give the dates you worked for them, and maybe some vague details. Unless you did something terrible that resulted in you getting fired, I think you are in the clear. (Unless your company is so spiteful that they will set out to ruin everyone in the lawsuit, but this leaves them open for further claims against them, and when it comes to class-action suits, companies try to brush them aside as quick and quiet as possible.)

[paradoxical]

Thanks for the info. That's what I needed to know.