What questions are a prospective employer allowed to ask a previous employer?

Answer 1

list of things you cannot ask potential employees about includes:

• Private organizations he or she belongs to

• Religious affiliations

• Date of birth (except when that information is required for satisfying minimum age requirements)

• Lineage, ancestry, national origin, descent, parentage, or nationality

• Names and addresses of relatives other than a spouse and dependent children

• Sex or marital status

• Height or weight, unless you can show that information is justified by business necessity

• Physical or mental disabilities


OK: What days can you work? What hours can you work?

Not OK: How many children do you have? Do you have a babysitter available if we need you on a weekend?

OK: Do you have any responsibilities that would interfere with traveling for us?

Not OK: Do you have a baby or small child at home?

OK: Are you legally eligible to work in the United States?

Not OK: Are you a U.S. citizen? What country are you from?

OK: This job requires someone who speaks more than one language. What languages do you speak or write fluently?

Not OK: What's your native language?

OK: Have you ever been convicted of a crime?

Not OK: Have you ever been arrested?

OK: You say on your application that you were in the military. What kind of education and experience did you get there?

Not OK: What kind of a discharge did you receive?

OK: Do you have a high school diploma? Do you have a university or college degree?

Not OK: When did you graduate?

Answer 2

The official route is for the prospective employer to request a written reference from the previous employer. The prospective employer can request whatever information it likes and the previous employer can give whatever information it chooses to give however either can leave them open to legal action from either party. i.e.

a) The information given by the previous employer stops you from getting the job. You can sue your previous employer.

b) The previous employer tells the new one that you are fantastic and you don't work out. The new employer can sue your old one.

Because of this employers are being very careful about what information the give about you and in most cases will merely confirm that you worked for the firm and nothing more.

Legally your old employer cannot give any personal details that would breach data protection, like your phone number etc.

Thing is though your prospective employer can withdraw a job offer at any time as long as you haven't signed the offer/contract and most of the time someone will call your old employer and ask about you "off the record". If they hear some thing that gives them cause for concern they'll just withdraw the offer without telling you why.

So if you have any skeletons in the closet it's best just to come clean.

I had this happen to a candidate a couple of months ago. If she had told the truth the company would have still offered her the job. But they found out that she lied about something and decided to withdraw the job offer without telling her why as the obtained information "off the record" from her previous boss.

The information give was that she was sacked for certain things. Not a huge deal but because she lied they decided not to take her on.

Answer 3

Hi,

There is no legal restriction as to what can be asked when a reference is being requested from a previous employer.

There are restrictions as to the information which the previous employer provides however, in so much as any details must be factual. The previous employer must also be aware that any information they provide which effects the decision of whether the prospective employer will engage the application could lead them to be sued for discrimination.

Because of the difficulties of this increasingly litigous practice most previous employers will now only state dates of employment in response to a reference request regardless of what specific questions have been asked of them and it is their right to do so.

Answer 4

Legally they are only allowed to ask... dates of employment. often they will slip in if the employee would be rehired should they look to return....

in all the previous employer is allowed to verify dates of employement...

Answer 5

An business enterprise can tell yet another business enterprise something this is genuine with out worry of reprisals. the priority they'd run into is the translation of what's asserted. case in point if the business enterprise reported you have been "a stable worker" and the flair business enterprise did no longer hire you simply by fact he/she felt that "stable" became no longer "stable sufficient" even although the former business enterprise would have meant you have been the final worker ever you have gotten a case of defamation of character. To make a protracted tale short, they'd say quite plenty something yet maximum won't simply by fact of worry of litigation. maximum employers purely launch suggestion approximately employment initiate and term dates.

Answer 6

Only two Questions
Whether the employee was productive ?
Was he loyal to previous organization ?

Answer 7

dates of employment and would you re-hire. that is all they are legally allowed to ask.

Answer 8

Anything.

Legally, they are not allowed to ask the following questions

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/what_questions_can_i_be_legally_asked_at_a_job_interview.html