Crystal Lake Bankruptcy Lawyer Answers: Can I Lose My Job If I File ...

Filing for bankruptcy is your federal right under the United States Constitution and Title 11 of the United States Code.  You cannot be discriminated against for filing a bankruptcy.  You have the legal federal right to file a bankruptcy case.  If you do lose your job, I guarantee you it won’t be from filing a bankruptcy.  It will be for some other reason.  Even if it’s not for some other reason, you are never going to be told that it’s from filing a bankruptcy because that would be discriminatory on its face, and that could subject your employer to severe sanctions for violating the law. 

I will tell you this.  In future jobs you might have to fill out an application that states whether or not you have ever filed a bankruptcy case before.  When you see that application, you should fill it out and answer honestly that you filed a bankruptcy case before.  Once again, you cannot be discriminated upon based on the fact that you filed a bankruptcy.  No employer is going to tell you that you were denied a job because you filed a bankruptcy. 

Now this is not to say that an employer can’t use the bankruptcy as an excuse in their own hiring practices.  However, they will not notify you of such.  I have not seen a widespread array of this in my 20 years of practice.  I have seen people get jobs.  I have seen people keep jobs.  I have seen people’s lives rebound tremendously after filing either a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  So don’t be in fear that you’re going to lose your job if you file for bankruptcy.  It simply is not the case.  Your employer is not going to punish you.  In fact, your employer is not going to often know that you filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy because they’re not involved in it.  The only time that I would have to notify an employer of your bankruptcy case filing is if I had to stop a garnishment in a Chapter 7 or if I had to send a payroll control order in a Chapter 13 case.  

Once again, this is your federal right to file.  You cannot be discriminated upon based on the fact that you filed.  You will not lose your job based on the bankruptcy filing, and you will not be denied a job simply based on your bankruptcy filing.  It’s illegal, it’s unethical, and the law provides for remedies should you in fact be discriminated upon, and should you in fact either lose your job or fail to get a job for the reason of filing a bankruptcy.