Legal Question in Employment Law in California

phone calls to past employers for job references

Up to now, I have had a perfect job work history and happy previous bosses. I just left a job where my boss was so difficult, that I saw no choice but to leave. I found out that I was the 8th secretary in 1-1/2 years to work for her. I have sent out 40-50 resumes with no calls. I had a friend to call 'asking for job references' on me to see what she was saying. When asked 'does she handle money' she answered 'Yes'. When asked 'Do you consider her trustworthy', she answered 'I won't answer that'. Other questions were similarly negative. I did my job well and handled 30-40K a month, besides $750 petty cash, which balanced to the penny every month. BUT she is allowing the caller to believe that I could not be trusted and possible took money from the company. I cannot get a job because of this! I plan to delete this job from my resume, but what can I do about this? Do I have any recourse?

p.s. in your terms, there is a typo: ''However, you must also understand tthat you might LOOSE a little bit of . . . .'' the word should be LOSE. The word used is for 'my pants are too loose around the middle and may fall down'.


Asked on 3/28/03, 11:29 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
H.M. Torrey The Law Offices of H.M. Torrey

Re: phone calls to past employers for job references

from your facts, if you clearly feel you are being victimized without cause, and your former employer is not speaking with your prospective new employer's in a good faith and/or for "public interest" as to how you previously performed under her supervision, you may have very viable causes of action for defamation, invastion or privacy (false light), etc..if you would like further assistance, feel free to email me with more details.

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Answered on 3/31/03, 3:48 pm
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: phone calls to past employers for job references

IF you can demonstate they are making actually false statements about you, amounting to slander, you may have a lawsuit against them Even if you can't prove that, you should definitely hire an attorney to contact them and make clear that unless the negative reponses stop, you will take further action. Contact me if interested.

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Answered on 3/31/03, 4:12 pm


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