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Verbal Employment Verifications
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Verbal Employment Verifications
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
Is it ok to verbally confirm previous or current employment (with dates) and job titles? Or is it safer to ask for something in writing that supplies us with the employee's or ex-employee's permission
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Verbal Employment Verifications
posted at 10/4/2010 7:16 AM EDT
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Posts: 38
First: 7/8/2008 Last: 11/18/2010 |
Is it ok to verbally confirm previous or current employment (with dates) and job titles? Or is it safer to ask for something in writing that supplies us with the employee's or ex-employee's permission? |
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Verbal Employment Verifications
posted at 10/4/2010 7:24 AM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
If all you're doing is accurately confirming dates of employment and title, you should be fine. It's when you start getting into more subjective areas (eg, performance, behavior, etc) that you may run some liability risk. |
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Verbal Employment Verifications
posted at 10/4/2010 7:44 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
We keep ours to written requests only. Because at least that keeps a bit of clarity about who exactly is on the other end of the request. I have found that most never have a problem sending one once I give them the contact info (fax/email). They really only call because they don't have that information. Most of them would prefer the answer in writing too!
I also prefer to have a standard policy that covers all VOEs (mortgage, employment history, etc). That way it is consistent. So I err on the side of caution. But it is not illegal by any means to give out verbal ones...just much harder to document. |
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Verbal Employment Verifications
posted at 10/6/2010 7:55 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
You are welcome! I was just talking to a regional manager of our business about having to prove something didn't happen. To do that, you need to have a process/system in place that proves when something DOES happen.
If you give out verbals and do not document them, then how would you ever prove that you DIDN'T give out certain information? Whereas if you document and have a strict policy of not giving out verbals, it is much easier to make the claim/prove that you didn't. But this does rely on the fact that you actually DON'T give out verbals! If you arent' going to follow the policy/documentation, then it is worthless and you might as well do verbals *Ã* But then again, I am very high on notes/documentation and following procedures and policies. Not everyone is.... |
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