type of job reference

[justcurious]

Hi, I just found this site, and I thought I would see if anyone here can answer a question for me!

What all can a police department say when another department calls for a job reference. (I live in Kansas by the way) I know that most places can only say if they would or would not re-hire the person and the dates they were employed. I have heard that a police department can go into further detail, does anyone know if this is true or not? Thanks in advance!

 

[cbg]

This is one of the most common misconceptions I have ever encountered.

What you have heard is wrong. The law does not limit employers in Kansas or any other state to dates of employment and rehire status. While many employers have chosen to limit themselves to that information, it is NOT a legal limitation. There would be no point to providing references at all if that were so.

ANY employer in ANY state can give out ANY information they choose to, as long as the information is either truthful or they honestly believe it to be truthful. The only caveat is that they cannot give any medical information that may be in their files. This generally includes any information about disabilities or workers comp claims as well.

According to the most recent list I saw, 44 states had legislation either in place or pending that would hold an employer harmless for the results of any TRUTHFUL reference they provided. Since that list was several years ago, there may be more by now. The trend is to provide more information, not less.

In fact, there are some circumstances in which an employer can be sued for NOT providing detailed information.

Hope that helps.