Discrimination at work...?

I applied for the Supervisor position at work last week under advision from my therapist. I had time off last year to get myself back on my feet but returned to work in August, and this last few weeks especially, I've been doing loads better, at work and outside of work.

So yeah, I applied for the job and was granted an interview for next week. I got to work today and she said that because she "didn't have time" she was no longer gonna give me an interview and would only be interviewing the top 3 candidates. I've applied for the job once before, aced the interview and nearly got the job but had a breakdown, so I can't understand why I'm no longer suitable...

1. Can she cancel an interview like that? Like, without a reason other than "no time"?
2. Does this sound like discrimination to you? I'm not sure but my parents are worried it is.

This has really upset me :/

[Beautiful Disaster]

Hey Joanna

I don't know if it is discrimination as I don't know what the "technical" term for that is anymore, however if she has said she will give you an interview, it doesn't seem fair that she can just turn around and say you don't anymore. Is there anyone else at your work you could talk to about this, or ask your therapist what she thinks? Or, could you talk to her about it and see what she says the reasons are? You could ask her why you didn't make the top 3 but do it in a way that it looks like you are looking for ways to improve your application and you have every right to ask for feedback about an application.

I'm really glad things are looking up for you though, keep going!
I hope that helps and that it works out for you love.
Take care,
Anna.

[Edward]

You shouldn't pursue employers who devalue interviewees in such a manner. If this is how they treat interviewees, then you'd probably have it worse when you're on the job.

You're probably right, though. It could be discrimination. If you had a breakdown and they were well-aware of it, then to a point, I can understand why they declined to interview you. However, that itself says a lot about the employer: They won't be completely honest with you down the road. Regardless of what happened, they should have:

1. Privately informed you that they cannot consider you due to your past, and/or
2. Interviewed you based solely on your merit, and overlooking your past.

Is the interviewer the head honcho? Is there anyone above her? If yes, you should try to get in touch with her superior(s) and explain what happened. Personally, I wouldn't pursue that job any further, but if you must, then you can start by doing the above.

Good luck!

[PSY]

I don't see this as discrimination. Employers are allowed to have a "cut-off" when it comes to interviews, and they don't need to give you a reason why. I mean, think about it for a moment. What if you applied for a position, was invited to an interview, and then you received a call (the day before your interview) saying that the position had been filled. Would that be discrimination? No - it just wouldn't be fair. I think that's what's going on in this situation. The employer doesn't want to waste her time interviewing other people when she feels she's already picked out the three most promising candidates. That's not discriminatory at all. It would be nice if she gave you the benefit of the doubt, of course, but she doesn't HAVE to. My boyfriend is a nursing graduate, and for every 1 nursing position, there are literally 1000+ applications. It would be ridiculous for us to expect the hospital to interview every single applicant. Instead, they pick out a few candidates and interview them. I'm sorry the employer didn't stick to her promise, but that's just being a jerk, not being discriminatory. (Let's say, for argument's sake, that this WAS discrimination. How would you prove it? The answer is, you can't, so why bother pursuing the matter? Not fair? I agree - but your only choices are to keep working, quit, or sue [and fail/waste your time and money, for lack of evidence].)

Hey there,

I don't know if this is considered discrimination; I think it is kind of strange/rude of the manager to do and not at all professional of her to do. Thing is, as with a lot of discrimination cases they are hard to prove.

Besides this incident have you been happy at this job or have you experienced other cases scenarios similar to this? If you are, for the most part, happy at the job you are at I suggest that you stay there and wait for another promotion to open up. I know it sucks that you got passed up for this promotion but I am sure your time will come. However if this is not the only time that you have had something like this happen it might be time for you to consider looking into a new job.

Have you discussed this with your therapist yet? I think she would be a good person to talk this over with as well. She might be able to give you some good ways on how to handle this etc and she will give you someone to talk it over with and vent to about the frustration you are feeling.

I really hope this helped.

[BestFriend]

ok, that is really not right from her, but actually she can do that. being a b***h is not ilegal unfortunatelly.

[Always *]

It was a bitch move but like best friend said, justbecuase you feel like it was unfair, it isn't illegal for her to do that since she didn't actually give a reason involving something discriminatory.For all you know someone went over her head and said she can only interview X amount of candidates. Or maybe something DID come up, like one of her kids needs something done during that time, who knows. But in any case, while it is unfortunate as it is its not like she came up to you and said your gender, race, religion, culture, etc are the reasons. I know it sucks, but if she already knew about the break down before, and the other people had good qualifications, and when forced to choose, she might of decided that of the group chosen that maybe you were the one most likely not to be ready to handle the pressure.
I'm sorry it happened to you, but I don't see anything discriminatory. And even if it were, it would be pretty hard to prove. I wouldn't go with the whole suing thing, suing tends to be more an American thing for stuff like that, but I know that you could definitely bring it up in court some how, but nothing would come of it more likely than not cause she could easily just be like "this is why I had to turn her down last minute" and it wouldn't be discriminatory. If you are concerned, you COULD just let her know you were a bit upset you got turned down last minute and just ask for the reason why YOU were unselected, and NOT the reason why she had to downsize