Legal Question in Employment Law in Tennessee

Re: confidentiality breach

There is no employer-employee confidentiality rule recognized by the courts. Employers must keep certain identifying pieces of information, e.g., your social security number confidential, as a matter of federal law. Most employers will not give detailed references about a former employee, because it invites slander or libel lawsuits for maligning the former employee's character. If you are worried that the former employer might leak this information to a future employer, your husband could send the former employer a letter expressing his anger with the situation and indicate that he would consider suing the former employer if that former employer gives out false or misleading information. "False" here is a subjective term, and often what is true to one person is false to another. Still the former employer would be wise upon receipt of that letter to give practically only objective reference information: dates of employment, job title, etc.