Reference request for a difficult ex-employee: How should you respond?
January 19, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views, Law, References
When you get a reference request for an ex-employee you can’t honestly recommend, what’s the best way to respond?
Of course, the first step is to follow your company’s established practices. If the policy is to only verify dates and titles, do that with all reference calls — making exceptions to bad mouth one individual could lead to a bias claim.
Some other tips for handling these situations:
- When possible, warn departing employees if you won’t be able to provide a positive reference.
- Stick to documented facts. For example, explaining the former employee failed to meet a quota is a safer bet than a vague statement such as, “He was lazy.”
- If the employee hasn’t worked at your company for a few years, you can simply say enough time has passed that you aren’t comfortable giving a reference.
- Don’t deliver false praise or withhold vital information, such as safety concerns. In one recent court case, a company was sued after one manager gave a glowing reference about a doctor who was fired for using drugs on the job. The company was held liable after the doctor killed a patient while working for his new employer.
Have you ever been contacted for a reference about a difficult or poor-performing former employee? How did you respond? Tell us your experience in the comments section below.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I have told prospective employers about two empoyees being terminated for fsailing drug tests. I am not lying and they deserve to know what they are getting in to.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Our company policy prohibits us from disclosing any information besides the dates of employment, job duties and title, with the salary thrown in if the former employee has given signed authorization. This protects us from liability for a defamation lawsuit and makes giving references quick and easy.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I simply tell them that the only comment that I wish to share is that this particular person is not eligible for rehire under any circumstances. This covers everything as far as I’m concerned.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Bonnie,
It might be a good idea for your company to reconsider whether it is protecting itself “from liability for a defamation lawsuit” with its name, rank, and serial number approach when providing references. Specifically, you should look into the emerging issue (in many states) of “negligent referral.” In some (perhaps many) instances, a “quick and easy reference” does not provide protection against a legal claim; it is more apt to do the opposite. If more employers were willing to be accurate with their references, reference checking would be more likely to be the valuable process that it has the potential to be.
February 11th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
At our company we have two basic types of employees. Those that fall under DOT regulations and those who do not. When dealing with DOT references we are required to state if there were any safety issues (failing drug tests, accidents while driving) while the employee worked with our company. Because of this, we follow a practice of only giving the dates of employment, job title, rate of pay, and any safety issues upon written consent by the ex-employee. All ex-employees are reviewed before rehiring, so our comments to the question of rehire status is “Upon review”.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:53 am
The value of references is questionable no matter what, IMO.
A good, glowing reference from a previous employer merely indicates that the person had a good rapport with their manager. A bad one, likewise, can indicate that there was a personality issue with the manager, and that doesn’t necessarily stem from the employee.
For instance, my previous manager found new employment after he’d gotten 2 formal warnings about his behaviour. However, if he hadn’t quit, I would have!
He did resign though, but before he did, he wrote an absolutely toxic review for both of his senior team members, and had his successor present, trying to poison the new manager. It didn’t work – and the review was subsequently dismissed as unfounded and unfair (as were the other reviews). But it taught me something about the legitimacy of references.
August 20th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
One of our managers was fired for embezzlement, theft, absentee-ism, and same-gender sexual harassment, but was able to find employment again locally. When news of the previous harassment issues reached the new boss, he called me asking if I would hire this man! I told him my opinion was irrelevant and illegal for him to request! He should have checked more thoroughly into this man BEFORE hiring him!
August 20th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
esse – Is it actually illegal to say that he is not eligible for rehire? I don’t think it is…