Legal Question in Employment Law in Tennessee

Re: Employer disclosure

They can say anything they want to say...as long as it is the truth. Many companies have a policy which restricts the kind of information they will release to prospective employers (confirm employment and term of service for example), but this is a voluntary restriction. This is to avoid defamation lawsuits for bad references. To succeed on a defamation suit, a worker must prove: 1. The former employer knowingly or negligently made a false statement to a prospective employer; 2. The prospective employer based its decision not to hire the worker on the false statement; 3. The worker has been damaged as a result. These cases are very difficult to win. Often the prospective employer will not admit why it refused to hire the worker or will list the false statement as one of several reasons. Even if the worker can prove she was not hired because of the false statement her damages are limited because she found subsitute employement quickly.