When you apply for a new job, many potential employers will check into your employment history to find out more about you and your working habits. They are looking to see how you handled yourself in the past, as an indicator of how you might act in a future position with their company. Of course, not every job works out well, and not every employment situation ends on good terms. If you are going through the employment process, you may wonder - what exactly are my former employers saying about me? And are they allowed to say negative things that could cost my shot at this job?
The short answer is, they can say negative things, as long as they are true, but many will not, for fear of having to defend their statements. Negative statements are only going to be actionable, in most cases, if they are defamatory in nature - that is, the statement is false in nature, and that untruth could be seen as harmful to the person`s reputation. So, if your former employer tells this potential new job that you were constantly late, but you were not, that would be defamatory, and you would have reason to take issue with the negative reference. But if it is a true statement, and you were frequently tardy in your arrival time, then your former boss would not be defaming you. Truth is always a defence against a charge of slander.
However, this is a very tricky area of law, and the points are so fine on some of the definitions that many employers, rather than risk saying something actionable, will simply decline to answer certain questions, and may not provide any information past a confirmation of your previous employment, and the dates of your arrival and departure. To guard against problems in this area, always find and suss out positive reference sources for your previous positions when possible.
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