Your Former Employees Want a Reference, Here Is What Your Attorney Thinks About That

Being the boss means that you will have the opportunity to provide references for your former employees. Some companies ask that you just verify dates and titles and others want to question you about your former (or sometimes current) employee. Lots of companies have policies requiring people to keep their mouths shut, but others allow their managers to speak freely. Lots of people think references are illegal (they aren’t). Which policy should you adopt?

I asked several labor and employment lawyers what they think. Here are their responses

To keep reading, click here: You Former Employees Want a Reference, Here Is What Your Attorney Thinks About That

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2 thoughts on “Your Former Employees Want a Reference, Here Is What Your Attorney Thinks About That

  1. This article could not have come at a better time. I literally just got blindsided last week with a scenario that Eric Meyer described about an EE being dismissed for performance and supervisor (in my case not the former EE’s direct supervisor) wrote a glowing letter of recommendation.

    It is my company policy that we do not give letters of recommendation if an EE was terminated due to performance or misconduct. If a former EE who resigned was good/great, or let go due to a RIF, than surely a letter of recommendation would be provided but it would come from HR, would be on company letter head, and would be sent from the company email.

    In regards to reference checks, I have no choice but to play it safe…VERY safe. I will provide start and end dates of employment, the former EE’s title, and only if asked will I provide if the former EE is eligible for rehire – literally an “is/is not eligible for rehire”

    1. A letter of recommendation from HR is silly and useless. HR can’t speak to the employees actual strengths, weaknesses, and areas of expertise. Only the people that actually worked with the employee know the employee’s abilities.
      The problem with listening to only lawyer advice is that they are only thinking about the legal protection side of the problem. They are thinking paranoid “what-if” issues and are almost frozen in their fear. There are other parts of the problem too – like employees and potential employees finding out about how a past employee was treated (and a reference or lack of one is part of that). A company that refuses to reward good workers with good references will soon find that it has a hard time recruiting those same workers.
      In short, a lawsuit is only one part of the issue. As only part of the issue it should NOT dominate the solution.

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