probably not, otherwise. (Unless there was some sort of written agreement/contract to the contrary..)

Once, I was promoted over the foreman. So, his wife is office manager, and she shoots him the calls, after I am layed off. He says I am a piece of shit. This goes on for months. I have no idea. Until a friend there tells me. This piece of shit comes knocking on the door of the place I finally get a job. I told him he is lucky I dont disable him on the spot. He better be gone by the time I check again.

Another is the manager says to the sister facility in Oregon, where I have travelled to interview, that I was fired. I was layed off. No telling how many other places he fucked me out of. Careers are ruined by shitheads like these. I wish I could have sued. But, you never win those, and you go broke till you win.

I should have flattened them both.

See: http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/defamation-vs-negligent-referral/

Lawsuits about this sort of thing, I think the only lawful thing they can say is:

yes, he/she worked here during that time.

Anything else is grounds for a lawsuit.

Now if you put that person down as a reference, that's another matter entirely.

company actually tells you at the exit interview if that is the case or not. I was told by the Red Cross blood Service that I was on the re-hire list. i suppose that doesn't mean they will bring you back for sure.

I've had one friend and one relative sue and win over this. You can, basically, say Person X worked from this time to that time, and made this much money.

As someone said upthread, a reference can say anything.

"Would you hire this person again?"

So that's all I say if it's a bad former employee - dates worked and whether or not I would rehire. They get the message.

In most cases my former employees are eligible for rehire, and they usually stay on as loyal clients, so I rarely have to deal with this situation. When I get calls about THEM, I make sure the prospective employer knows how good they were and that we miss them.

particularly when it involves a hypothetical regarding what someone would do.

Like how long you were there, but your performance would be iffy. It would be somewhat subjective to their opinion. So that's not going to be given usually.

Why you were let go if you were,could be given but some may even balk at giving that.

Of course that was the old rules. New rules are if a republican is calling another republican about a republican, any lies are considered ok as long as they are in favor of the republican being called about.

If any republican calling any republican about a democratic employee, then lies are accepted and even requested as long as they are bad and keep the democrat from getting a job.

Any democrat calling a republican about a republican or a democratic prospect, will be lied to making sure that only a poor performing employee will be recommended to the democratic employer.

and so on.

If you think this is happening, let the prospective employer during the interview that the former employer was upset when you left. This will defuse this sort of situation.

But I have worked in human relations, and every workshop and seminar that I attended cautioned us to give very little information if someone was checking references from us on former employees. We were told the only questions we should answer were 1) yes, that person worked here and we can give how long they worked, and 2) are they eligible for rehire---but no details as to why or why not. I always went a step further and only would answer that the person was an employee. The reasons we were told not to give more information was because of possible law suits. It seems that preventing someone from gaining employment elsewhere or stating things that may be considered untruths or stretches of the truth could be grounds for a law suit (even if it may not win, you would be put through the mess of lawyers and courts).

Are you sure this is happening and how do you know? Have you had a friend make a call for a reference?

The exact laws may be different in every state. And many former employers may not be aware that it is not a smart move to give too many details.

And also of course, if someone tells lies about you to someone else you can sue them for defamation. This applies to anyone, not just former employers.

Some companies have a policy of only verifying dates of employment in order to ensure that they cannot be sued for defamation, but that is their choice, not a legal requirement.

I was told to simply confirm former employment dates. Period. Even a simple, "Would you hire him/her back?" was not supposed to be answered. We couldn't say anything positive either, in case he/she were hired on our recommendation and then did something bad, like embezzlement or something. They were scared to death of lawsuits. It would cost them a bundle, so they did everything to avoid the possibility.

Virtually all large companies demand a minimum of three references from former places of employment, and virtually all companies have policies forbidding anything more than affirming employment dates.

If a prospective employer is verifying employment they call the HR dept which can only confirm dates.

Your references aren't the same. If you select a person as your reference they aren't held to the dates only standard.

Because these days, the former employer is REQUIRED to only say whether I am eligible for rehire or not. Any other editorializing with regard to a commercial driver is verboten

anything else and trouble could follow

You have, at the time of my post, received 17 replies, all with relevant information in answer to your question.

Has any other forum out there ever given you such an outpouring of info, without asking to be paid? Or attacking you, for whatever idiotic reason?

Has any other forum refrained from giving you negative advice, or suggested the former employer/employee is evil if they don't believe as you do, or is a body part related to waste elimination?

Welcome to DU. This place has the smartest, most giving, most caring people I've ever known of. Please note that the site has NO religious affiliation, but no animus against the religious, as long as they don't try to hurt others. This is people, willing to help others, just because we all benefit from helping, and often learn from others in the process.

Please tell your friends. DU is the closest thing I've found to a community that is non-judgemental and concerned with truth, scientific and otherwise, for its own sake.

Anything else sets you up for legal action...

A sales manager quit to go to a competitor and an executive lashed out at her claiming among other things over several months that the ex-sales manager was:

1. A meth user, a heroin user, a crack user...
2. Pregnant by a subordinate, pregnant by a teenager, pregnant by a priest...
3. Resigned over fraudulent expenses, failed drug test, sexual harassment...
4. Arrested for shoplifting, DUI, public sex acts...

They settled out of court for $350,000 and terminated the woman responsible for the one-woman slime machine.