Weongful Termination

[emuloid]

My jurisdiction is: California, USA

Company "A" terminated my employment last year. A month later I found a job at company "B". Company "A" and company "B" are direct competitors of each other. My departure from company "A" was not on good terms. I feel that the company "A" was wrong in this decision but I did not take any action at that time. Can company "B" get my personnel file from company "A"? Is it legal for the company "A" HR to disclose the reason of termination to the HR of company "B"? Would it constitute invasion of my privacy?
Now if it looks like an unfounded baseless accusition from company A is affecting my employment at B, what are my options?

 

[cbg]

Can company "B" get my personnel file from company "A"?

They can in the sense that no law prohibits it; however, in 30 years of HR I have never once seen or heard of an instance where any employer would give a copy of an employee's personnel file to any other company, let alone a competitor. Your file is the property of Company A and the likelihood that they would give your file to Company B is so slim as to be non-existant.

Is it legal for the company "A" HR to disclose the reason of termination to the HR of company "B"? It is quite legal. Despite a persistant myth to the contrary, no law in any state prohibits an employer from disclosing the reason for an employee's termination to another employer.

Would it constitute invasion of my privacy? No.