Bad Job References

[newtohobby]

My friend went for a job, was asked for references.

A week later, he got an email claiming that there were 2 references that were not on his list that came forward and gave him bad reference claiming poor attendance and inaccurate employment dates.

He doesn't know who it is. Maybe somebody he knows that he worked with before in the past. What can he do?

 

[TeeJay]

Sounds like someone in HR from the old company
Or else he lied to new employer about his boss etc and someone outed him

What can he do? Nothing...
He has no idea who said it & no idea exactly what was said

 

[LeeHelm]

Not sure about Canada but in the US, you will never get a negative or positive reference from a former employer. All they will do is confirm that you worked for the period you specified. Otherwise too much chance od being sued.

 

[Butler1000]

Are the allegations truthful? If he did lie then nothing. However if he can prove that the information is correct then perhaps he can find out who is out to get him.

 

[glamphotographer]

Not sure about Canada but in the US, you will never get a negative or positive reference from a former employer. All they will do is confirm that you worked for the period you specified. Otherwise too much chance od being sued.

Many companies have this policy these days. They do not give references, only confirm that they worked. Which i think is fair.

 

[Ridgeman08]

What can he do?

Seems quite simple to me...

Instead of being unreliable on the job, and withholding information on his application/ resume, he should exercise full disclosure and when he gets a new position, make EVERY effort to be at work on time.

Its not an employer's fault the applicant is unreliable and dishonest.

Kudo's to the HR department for doing its due diligence of finding this out before they hired a problem employee.

 

[black booty lover]

Not sure about Canada but in the US, you will never get a negative or positive reference from a former employer. All they will do is confirm that you worked for the period you specified. Otherwise too much chance od being sued.

This is what kills me. Many companies in Canada are now starting to do the same thing. What makes me laugh is, the companies that won't give references for the reason, have the balls to still ask for them.

 

[michael_to29]

Check to see what was signed. There is a lot of legislation now around privacy and personal and confidential information. There are two avenues, the perspective employer must obtain written permission to contact the references (and must also have something explicit to say they can contact contact references off the list.)

The first step is to ask HR for a freedom of information request regarding who was contacted for a reference. If they state confidentiality, just ask for the names not the references, not what was discussed (for now anyway). Also ask for their corporate policy on the protection of personal information. Start pointing out where they have violated their own policy. Your goal is to make the company want to make you go away and the easiest way for them to do it is to give you the names.

If you are able to find out who gave the references, go to the HR of those companies and file a complaint that those employees released personal information about you without your authorization. It doesn't matter if the references are good or bad, unless they had authorization to release personal information they are not allowed to do so. The company also had a duty to inform you of any breach of confidential information so the fact that you found out and was not informed by them is a breach on their part.

It probably isn't worth perusing anything through the courts but you will accomplish a couple things. One, you will know who gave the poor references, Two, the individuals who gave the reference will by unlikely to do it again, and three, it will likely cause them some grief.

 

[ICEman72]

This is what kills me. Many companies in Canada are now starting to do the same thing. What makes me laugh is, the companies that won't give references for the reason, have the balls to still ask for them.

My my workplace does this and I have to laugh every time the subject of references come up because nobody seems to see the hypocrisy in the policy.

 

[SkyRider]

Some companies ask for a police reference report. Some companies also ask for a credit bureau report?The applicant can always decline but it would raise the question why? Why would any upstanding credit worthy citizen refuse to provide a potential employer with a police reference and credit bureau report?

Also be careful what you post on your Facebook page and on YouTube and never tell anybody you are not pro-gay marriage.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Not sure about Canada but in the US, you will never get a negative or positive reference from a former employer. All they will do is confirm that you worked for the period you specified. Otherwise too much chance od being sued.

Total bullshit. People give references in the US all the time. If you're not knowledgeable about the subject, don't post drivel like this.

 

[Keebler Elf]

The first step is to ask HR for a freedom of information request.

**Laughing my ass off**

More drivel. FOI's don't work on private companies.

Yeah, as an interview candidate you want to make yourself a pain in the ass to your prospective employer. That's real smart.

 

[Keebler Elf]

A lot of bad information being presented in this thread. I'm a little surprised (but not a lot) that so many people are completely clueless as to the way it actually works.

Credit and police checks are different than reference checks (or to be precise, they're a very specific form of reference check). These kinds of checks are usually done for specific kinds of jobs. For example, if you're handling or have access to money or in a position where your lack of cash could lead you to do unscrupulous things against your employer. Police checks are definitely required in some cases (e.g., working with kids) but not everyone does them.

Generic reference checks are usually either character references or verifying what you put on your resume. If you say you worked at X or went to school at Y, it's totally fair game for your prospective employer to verify that. And if you lie anywhere on your resume, it can be grounds for termination with cause at any point when your employer finds out (the bigger the lie, the greater the chances you'll get nuked). This is a great way for an employer who wants to get rid of you to do so; they just go back and scrutinize your resume to see if there's anything there they can nail you on for lying.

Character references are usually provided by the candidate but an employer can always cold call one of your previous employers. Usually they'd only do this if they were suspicious about something but it all depends on the employer and how thorough they are in their reference checks.

Most employers (at least the sophisticated/professional ones) won't give a "bad" reference check per se. Instead, they will be cagey in their answers to avoid legal ramifications so you have to read between the lines. But to get around that all you have to do is ask the magic million dollar question: "Would you hire this person again?" Any answer but an unqualified "Yes" is a red flag.

There are a lot of stupid people out there. Quitting a job on bad terms can and will come back to haunt you. So will lying on your resume. HR departments aren't stupid. They see resumes all the time and for an HR professional who has done hiring it literally takes seconds to spot red flags on a resume. Most of the time they just pitch such a resume and move on to the next one. It's not worth the time and effort to verify whether there's really a problem or not. That's why potential employees need to be forthcoming and not burn bridges when they leave previous jobs, however satisfying it might be to walk out in a blaze of glory.

Now you know.

 

[basketcase]

Many companies have this policy these days. They do not give references, only confirm that they worked. Which i think is fair.

When talking about in written references or references to complete strangers then this may be the case but quite often there will be verbal references that are more detailed, especially when the employers are in the same field.

 

[basketcase]

This is what kills me. Many companies in Canada are now starting to do the same thing. What makes me laugh is, the companies that won't give references for the reason, have the balls to still ask for them.

Considering there are people who lie about their past employment it still makes sense.

 

[Titalian]

The question becomes, would you hire an unknown with no references ? This board is based on references.

 

[Ridgeman08]

Apparently, judging by all the other answers given, I took the wrong perspective in this thread...

When asked what can he do, I naively thought the OP was asking how his friend could better himself so as to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future when looking for a new position elsewhere with a prospective employer.

According the rest of the answers, the OP was asking what his friend could do as a legal recourse to a prospective employer for doing its due diligence in weeding out a possible lazy and dishonest employee...

Its no wonder the legal system in this country is so f'ed up, with such an attitude of entitlement running rampant.

:frusty:

 

[TeeJay]

A lot of bad information being presented in this thread. I'm a little surprised (but not a lot) that so many people are completely clueless as to the way it actually works.

Credit and police checks are different than reference checks (or to be precise, they're a very specific form of reference check). These kinds of checks are usually done for specific kinds of jobs. For example, if you're handling or have access to money or in a position where your lack of cash could lead you to do unscrupulous things against your employer. Police checks are definitely required in some cases (e.g., working with kids) but not everyone does them.

Credit checks are actually very common, everything from customer service call centres to self employment
I suspect it is unlikely to lose the job unless you lied about info

 

[black booty lover]

Considering there are people who lie about their past employment it still makes sense.

I get that, but I mean if a company won't give references, a little hypocritical to be asking for them don't you think??

 

[LeeHelm]

Total bullshit. People give references in the US all the time. If you're not knowledgeable about the subject, don't post drivel like this.

Believe in any fantasy crap you want. Companies do not give out references. Try doing a search on the subject and stop sounding like a moron.

I didn't say anything about someone going to an individual and asking if they will give a reference for them.