If a person is fired on bad terms, can your former boss tell a prospecting employer...?

Question

If a person is fired on bad terms, can your former boss tell a prospecting employer all about the details (such as, theft, fighting, bad language, not being on time or anything negative) of the employees termination? What is the laws in florida on this?

Answer 1

Theoretically, yes. The previous employer can say whatever they want when someone calls for a reference as long as it is true. However, they open themselves up to lawsuits if they do even if it is true and verifiable. The fired employee can claim defamation of character and the old employer will be forced to go to court to support the claims it made. Even if they can prove the claims, it is still up to the jury to decide guilty or not guilty. Sometimes, juries do not listen to facts. In any event, the prior employer will lose money to defend itself.

It is usually safer for old employers to not disclose exactly what happened directly but use a little subterfuge. Such as when the prospective employer calls about a reference say "I am going to have to refer you to our legal department regarding this previous employee." That says there is something very bad here, but not exactly what. It lets the prospective employer know that the prior employment had problems. Sometimes just saying flat out "I not give a reference for this employee." will get the message across.

Answer 2

I don't know the law in FL, however, I have lived in several of the states, and they all are the same. When a prospective employer calls a previous employer, the previous CANNOT give details. This is considered slander and character assasination. The prospective cannot by law even ask. They way i understand it, a previous can only tell a prospective whether or not they would hire you back.

Answer 3

If a former employer gives a bad reference then he/she can be sued in civil court for defamation of character. Usually those types simply refuse to give a reference, which is actually worse.

Answer 4

Yes, they sure can. In fact, if they know of such things and don't tell, they can get sued when the criminal commits the same crime for the new employer.