What type of information can a ex employer legally give to a prospective employer?
What can an ex-employer actually tell an prospective employer? Most companies seem to be using a "WORK" number for verifications...but what can they say. Can they say you were fired or just give out your job title and how long you worked there. Does anyone know if it's federal issue or state or left to the individual company... Any HR Managers who can answer this question? Thank you
What they're allowed by law and what they do is two different things , companies break the law all the time and get away with it because they do it in away nobody can legally prove it !
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That's a good question....And I have read all the great comments. But here's one! What if you worked for 1 company for 3 to 5 yrs, they close, you change careers. Work from that company for 30 yrs and retire from that job. Then decide to start a a new work flow. Now in between the 3 to five years you took on small jobs that had nothing to do with neither jobs they close.. The latest job was the retired job and leadership changes hand. What way do employers or HR , besides trusting potential employees resume. Figure out who to hire? Looking back all your references are no longer in business!
I don’t understand how these laws are going to help employees and protect us. Because unless you’re in the room when a potential employer calls a previous employer, how would you ever know what was said?
If a previous employer is following labor laws, the worst thing they can say is - He/She is not to be re-hired - then verify work dates. But that's in fantasy land, I have quit jobs in the past, and they will throw you under the bus, not even close to half of employers will be honest when u dump them, most of these companies are mom-pop shops-thatb tend to violate your workers rights multiple times in span of one work hour- TRUE! - I have lived it and continue.
Most employers these days only verify dates of employment and that's pretty much it for fear of being sued for divulging anything that may be construed as defamatory.
Prospective employers can ask/ verify dates of employment, title and the go around question they can ask is "would you re hire this person". If a previous employer gives negative information ie- tells them you were fired or were a bad employee or not to hire you that is usually a HUGE no-no. It does depend on state though so you can look up state labor laws to be specific. Good luck! And usually it's against the rules for a previous employer to hinder you from getting a new job. Hope this helps.
Really, a prospecting employer can ask anything job related that you did at your last place of employment. That is why they ask if you have any references. How you performed, were you always late or on time, did you leave early. Those types of things. If you ate a good worker and have a strong work ethic, which I'm sure you do, then you have nothing to worry about.
They can only say if they would or would not hire you again. Nothing else.
Claudette Grimes: All a previous employer may say now, is the date of higher, last day worked & last position held. The may be able to indicate whether you are eligible for rehire or not, but most employers don't go that far. They can't indicate the reason you were discharged or whether you left on your own. They also can not indicate that you were fired, or left with a bad taste. Only you can disclose that on a new application. How you address a case where you were fired or discharged is up to you. Your new employer will ask if you were fired from your last position, but you don't have to disclose that you were fired. If you had an agreement with your previous supervisor/manager/doss to not disclose that you were fired, you would have to follow that request. Say you left through "mutual agreement" is as far as you need to go. Since an employer can't discover whether you were fired, you are basically in the clear. What a company can say is up to Federal Labor Law that came out when everyone was jumping ship every 2 to 6 weeks, in the 1970's.