REFERENCE CHECKS...KEEP IT BRIEF

From Smart Workplace Practices*

Q. I'm a small employer and have a low-employee turnover rate, but recently I did have an employee leave. I've been called by a prospective employer asking for a work reference for the employee. What can I say? Can I be honest?

A. Giving a work reference for an ex-employee can be risky. This is particularly true when the request regards a less than satisfactory employee, and you speak spontaneously. The safest responses you can give when you are asked for an employee reference are as follows.

A brief response is the safest:

• The employee's date of employment with your company
• If the employee was full-time or part-time
• A description of the position the employee held
• The employee's salary range

Can you be honest? If you adopt the above approach, honesty will not be a concern for you. But if you tell a prospective employer that the employee was rude and a constant source of irritation to you, then you may be bordering on possible defamation.

Why not just refuse to give out any information at all and avoid all possible problems? Even this strategy isn't risk-free. At least one court has held that the refusal to give a reference for a former employee while providing references for other employees is itself defamatory.

ISBE recommends: Consider the following, along with the four suggestions listed above:

• Require a terminating employee to give you written permission to respond to a reference check.
• Ask that requests for reference checks be made in writing.
• When responding to a request, put your comments in writing. This protects you from being misquoted later.
• Put a reference response system into place and make sure that only the people you authorize are handling requests for employee references.
• Keep any comments that you do make strictly job-related.

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