I worked for a Fortune 500 company for about 10 years and worked my way up into leadership. Earlier this year, I was terminated over allegations involving a direct report. There was never an actual romantic relationship, and I genuinely don’t feel I intentionally did anything wrong, but the company still moved forward with termination based on policy concerns tied to the situation.
Since then, I’ve been interviewing for new roles and recently accepted an offer with another company. I’m currently going through a HireRight background check, and now my anxiety is through the roof because during interviews I said I was “laid off” instead of fully explaining the termination situation.
From what I understand, the background check is mainly employment and education verification, but I’m terrified my former employer is going to disclose the termination and that the offer will get rescinded.
Has anyone been through something similar with HireRight/employment verification? Do large companies usually provide detailed termination reasons, or is it generally limited to dates, title, and maybe rehire eligibility? I know I probably should’ve handled the interview explanation differently, but I was embarrassed and honestly still pretty shaken up by the entire experience.