Question: I was given a job offer by a bank. The bank withdrew their offer of employment because my former employer, another bank, refused to speak to the new employer over the phone. My former employer said it was against their policy to speak to anyone and faxed a letter stating the dates of my employment. Is it legal for the new employer, who had made the offer, to request to speak to a former employer? What information can be requested?
Answer: It is difficult to speak to individual situations without knowing the policies of the companies you are asking about. That said, many companies have a policy of only directing potential employers to HR with managers and others forbidden to speak to the potential employer. In these cases, dates of employment, job title and salary are likely the only pieces of information given. If you left in good accord and signed a document that gave your former company permission to talk about your performance, perhaps they will.
And, again, if it is the new employer's policy that they must speak to, as an example, your former boss, and they treat all candidates the same, then their policy is their policy.
Have you tried inquiring further of either your potential employer or your former employer? This is the format I recommend for checking references when the company will speak to an inquiring potential employer. I only recommend doing this kind of a check if the employer is ready to offer the candidate a position.
Checking the references of a large number of candidates is time consuming and impractical and I prefer not to spend the time unless I am really just confirming that I have a great candidate. You may wish to speak to an employment law attorney, and I am not an attorney.
What do others think about her problem? Is withdrawing a job offer common? What is going on here? Speculation is okay. I am also not an expert in this area. Under what circumstances do you withdraw job offers? Is a negative finding in a background check one of them?
Please respond to my reference checking poll: what does your company do about reference checks? How do you give good employees a break?
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