What can old employers tell new employers about past job?

[Unregistered]

If you apply for a new job and the new employer does a background check and calls your current or prior employer, what can the old employer tell the new one? What is confidential? Is anything at all about your job or any performance or write ups or job record confidential?

 

[army judge]

If you apply for a new job and the new employer does a background check and calls your current or prior employer, what can the old employer tell the new one? What is confidential? Is anything at all about your job or any performance or write ups or job record confidential?

A former employer could tell a prospective employer anything, even make up lies about you.

Most won't do that, and are reluctant to stray too far off the path.

If they did lie about you, you'd never know.

They generally verify dates of employment, job titles, work record, rates of pay, and often will indicate whether you are eligible to be rehired.

 

[Betty3]

Your former employer can tell the prospective employer anything that is true or is their honest opinion of what they believe to be true. They can give any information about your job performance & reason for termination if you were terminated. (nothing about your job, performance, or write ups.... is confidential)

 

[cbg]

Any medical information that they may have about you is confidential. Other that that, I agree with the above.

 

[Betty3]

Agree re medical info. (I was talking about job performance which I think the OP was also - almost mentioned no med. info but then didn't though probably should have.)

Under the Illinois Employment Record Disclosure Act, employers who provide truthful written or verbal information or information they believe in good faith is truthful about a current or former employee's job performance are immune from civil liability for the disclosure and the consequences of the disclosure. Il. statute 745ILCS 46/1 et. seq.

 

[DAWW]

Agreed. In a few situations, the employer cannot legally keep quiet. A child care provider with a pedophile former employee for example.

Also, I would not assume that all medical information is with certainty confidential. If (for example) you are a hosptial and the employee in question is a surgeon with a medical condition that causes serious hand tremors which has killed patients, I am far from sure that HIPAA is sifficent to gag the former employer. HIPAA is mostly directed at health care providers, not employers. I am not saying that the employer should be running off their mouth about current or former employee's meidical condition but HIPAA (or ADA for that matter) does not always gag the employer.

The prior statement that the employer can say what is true or what they think is true is almost always legally correct, and what exceptions tend to have very good reasons. Even if the employer makes what turns out to be a false statement, the defamation rules in the US are such that you have to also prove both malice in the statement and actually damages as a result fo the statement. There is a decent movie called Absence of Malice that covers this.

 

[cbg]

Good point, DAW.