References

[Shaolin]

So I'm talking to an old co-worker of mine this morning and she was telling me her husband just got a job at another dealership. Anyways, apparently his old manager at another dealership - the one before the one he left (should remain nameless) has been giving BRUTAL references and bad mouthing him to employers that call for references without ANY proof.

I guess that old manager of his has people by the bawls at the dealership too..

isn't that Illegal? i mean at our company we have the whole PIPEDA deal so pretty much you can't say a dam thing about an employee at all because of it.

Anyways, anyone know any information about that? He's THINKING about suing, not sure how positive he is, but he's putting it into consideration.

[Ben]

yes, he definatly has a case if the things the former employer is saying are false and not true in the least. That could be classified as defamation of charactor and/or slander, which can rsult in a huge lawsuit and recoery for lost opportunity and wages.

[TrevorK]

If he was let go for a specific reason, the employer is allowed to say that reason (IE: Stealing, etc...)

[camby]

Well, when you have references, don't you ask that person what they will say about you? Why put down someone as a reference if you don't know what they'll say? or if you know they'll say something bad about you?

[Shaolin]

because that was the deal.. reference was given, and guy turns around and bad mouths him when he left.

[camby]

Well I guess the best bet is to get a written reference.

[Ben]

Originally posted by camby
Well, when you have references, don't you ask that person what they will say about you? Why put down someone as a reference if you don't know what they'll say? or if you know they'll say something bad about you?

You must be a student or know nothing about HR or hiring people.

What person is going to leave off their last job on their résumé unless they were fired from it.

As the employer hiring this person, they're going to want to speak to someone from their last job to see what they are like, so it wouldn't work so well if he said "Yeah, I worked here, but you cant speak to my manager."

Most decent employers will want to speak to the previous one and learn what kind of employee they were, not being able to talk to someones past manager is deffinatly a career limiting move.

[tulit]

What do you do in the case though that you have applied for a job, they ask for a reference from your current employer, and all this before even getting the other job.

So basically, you give them your managers name/number, they call, your manager now knows you are looking for work elsewhere, you dont get the job at the new place and you are left in this awkward position at your current job.

One of my coworkers was just in this situation. He didn't want to give any of his bosses name to his new potential employer...

References are totally dumb IMO. Most people (except for in your friends case which is unfortunate) will not be giving the names of anyone who will say bad stuff about you. So the references are completely biased anyways.

[Shaolin]

yep i know what you mean Tarun.. I told my boss about looking for new opportunities next year.. I just made sure she understand where I'm trying to get, and told them by next year the company won't be able to afford me.. she understood and mutually agreed to give me a reference if an employer/headhunter calls..

but we just got the PIPEDA implemented in the company, so there's really not much they can say about me except for like "Yeah he's been here since October" or whatever..