Litigation

How Not to Give References

By Bruce Nye

Most employer's attorneys advise their clients that when an inquiry is made about a former employee, the employer should limit the response to confirming the former employee's dates of employment and job title.  There are two reasons for this:  avoiding liability to the prospective employer for misleading information about a problem employee, and avoiding liability to the former employer for defamation.  This is certainly conservative legal advice and probably a good way to avoid litigation risk.

There are also a significant number of employers who consider this advice to be overkill, and who continue to give out information about past employees. Their logic is that the hiring process is a difficult one, and employers should help one another.  CalBizLit is not unsympathetic with this view, although as an employer, it tends to err on the side of risk avoidance.

But here's something everybody can agree is a bad idea.  Verdict Search
(Subscription Requ'd) reports on the case of William Dozier v. Lithia Ford of Fresno and Mike Leal, Fresno Superior Court No. 05CECG02456.  The news report from the Fresno Bee also appears at the web site for Oren & Paboojian, who represented Dozier.

This was an arbitrator's decision, not a jury verdict.  Plaintiff was a salesman for Lithia Ford.  He left to take another job.  His former  manager faxed posters to his new employer, depicting him as "wanted" for being a traitor and backstabber.  Dozier sued for defamation.

Here's the twist:  Dozier was a Vietnam veteran sniper.  When he was in Vietnam, the Viet Cong circulated wanted posters with his photo on it.  He claimed that the posters caused flashbacks to his service time, caused him to start drinking again, and resulted in VA hospitalization.  His alcohol use caused him to lose his job and the family home.

The arbitrator found that the posters were defamatory and all the damages were caused by the defamation.  He awarded $775,000.

Full post as published by CalBizLit on January 29, 2008 (boomark / email).