Subject: Re: Employer references
From: blackman@dog-play.com
Date: 1997/09/12
Newsgroups: misc.legal.moderated,misc.legal
: On 25 Aug 1997 17:10:27 -0400, "poole-allair" wrote:
: >My understanding,at least in California, is that by law, an employer can
: >only furnish employment dates and confirm that the person was indeed
: >employed by the firm. Any "extemporaneous" comments, especially negative
: >are prohibited.
In misc.legal Hilary B. Miller, Esq. wrote:
: That's completely incorrect. Quite to the contrary, California has a
: statutory qualified privilege for untrue statements that are
: communicated in good faith in connection with employment references.
I'd have to agree, but in general California employers are becoming
increasingly wary of giving out anything more than employment dates and
confirming employment. There has been liability imposed for giving "good
references" when the employer knew of "bad" information, and there was
been liability imposed when it was found that an "improper" motive caused
negative informaion to be communicated, even though the prospective
employer did not decide on that basis. See Hashimoto v Dalton (Us Ct. of
Appeals, 9th Cir.) 97 CDOS 5295 (Case#95-1582795-15960). Many employers
feel it is safer to avoid an argument about whether the information was
"communicated in good faith" by not giving the information. More
specifically there is no statutory law, nor case law, requiring that an
employer restrict information to dates and fact of employment, but many
lawyers in California are advising their clients to stick to only that
information.
Diane Blackman
diane@dog-play.com http://www.dog-play.com
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