Employment Reference Check Laws And Related Questions
Employers, who are reviewing applicants for a job
, commonly use reference checks as a tool for screening potential employees. Previous employers who are referenced on the resume or on the application are contacted by the hiring manager when conducting an employment reference check. An applicant may benefit or be negatively impacted because of reference checks. If, as a result of a reference check, an applicant does not get a job; he/she would become unhappy and raise questions about the reference check policy and laws. Below are a few questions that have been answered regarding employment reference check laws:
Does a person have the right to get information from a poor reference check?
The information that is passed on through the reference check is not required to be shared. Further, there is no law that compels either the employer or the person providing the reference to divulge any information about the reference check. However, one may request for the information from either party, but they do not necessarily need to provide that data. Nowadays, mock reference checks are performed on request by private investigators or by other agencies. This may be used to verify what opinion past employers have regarding an employee.
Consider a situation where the current employer has performed reference checks on an employee, but the past employer had not divulged complete information in the past two reference checks. However, on the third one the employer reveals complete information. If the employee was terminated due to complete information not being revealed; can the employee hold the past employer liable?
If an employer provided less information during reference checks than they would provide usually, then the employer may not be held responsible. In the event that an employee had an agreement indicating the amount of information that could be provided during reference checks, but the employer gave away more information than was agreed upon; then one may take action. One may also file a case if there is evidence to prove that the information provided was discriminatory in nature with regards to age, sex, religion, or disability. One may also file a case if information provided was discriminatory because the employee was attempting to collect unemployment benefits, workers compensation, etc. If the employer is merely stating facts, it would not matter if the information is inconsistent with respect to the various reference checks.
How can an employee avoid using a past employer, as reference, who would provide poor reference?
If one is aware that the past employer may not give a good feedback, then that employer should not be included in the application or the resume. The new employer may be informed to use other references and that the information that would be sought should be limited to the employees work at the company, start/end date and the position in the company. Only if the new employer interacts with the past employer, would there be a chance for the past employer to provide bad feedback.
What actions can an employee take to stop the former supervisor from contacting the new employer and providing bad reference about the employee?
Though it is a possibility, a former supervisor may not take the trouble of doing this. If the former supervisor resorts to such an act, it would be unprofessional and he/she would have breached the employees privacy rights. One could consider sending a letter to the head of the former supervisors company detailing the behavior of the former supervisor. Details may include the number of times the calls were made with dates (if possible) and details of all the information that was passed on.
Upon receipt of such a letter, any company would usually take the employee to task. In addition, one may contact a local personal injury attorney who has experience in taking care of non-physical torts. One may not intend to take any legal action, but as a preventive measure the lawyer could send a cease and desist letter and inform that if such actions continue, legal action may be taken.
Does background check and reference check provide details of any independent contract work that may have been done by a person, but not included in the work history?
The background check that that is generally performed verifies the employees criminal history and occasionally the credit score. It is not common for companies to check tax records while performing
background checks. However, reference checks may provide details of independent contract work. Therefore, one may intimate the company about any independent contract works that were not included in the application or the resume.
As a part of the employee hiring process, reference checks are conducted. There may be some questions regarding the work history of an applicant. Sometimes, either intentionally or unintentionally, a former employer may provide a referral that may not be considered as good. This may cause the applicant to lose jobs. If one is unaware of the legal rights of an employee or would want to know the policies regarding reference checks; one may
ask an employment lawyer who may be able to answer any specific questions you may have.
by: MeghanJones
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