Hiring the wrong individual can have costly ramifications for a business. Fearful of a lawsuit, most employers provide only basic reference information such as dates of hire and positions held. This restricts the sharing of important documented information. It may mean the business hires an employee who is habitually absent, a thief, or worse. For employers, who hire employees to interact with the public, are required to enter customer’s homes, or who are responsible for the safety of others, this can lead to dangerous results.
The new Texas job reference bill provides liability protection for employers who share truthful information about a current or former employee’s job performance with a prospective employee.
Job performance is construed as an analysis of the employee’s attendance at work, attitudes, effort, knowledge, behavior, and skills. Immunity is removed if it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the information disclosed was known by that employer to be false at the time the disclosure was made or was made with malice or in reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the disclosure.
|