A business law professor made this statement on a law professor list serve. "Students often tell me that they learn in HR that they will be sued if they are asked for a reference and give more than "name, rank and serial number." I always tell them that
so long as anything they say is truthful and can be proven, they will win any suit for defamation. Explain why the HR managers gave the advice referred to and the law professor gave that response.
HR managers like many other managers are risk adverse. They are generally aware of the tort of defamation but not necessarily the specifics of the tort, so many may fear that any response, true or untrue that is negative is actionable by the employee. Others simply believe if they do not add any detail to a response for information about a former employee there is nothing for which they can be sued. That of course is not true, as failure to provide accurate information can be potentially
actionable as was demonstrated in the chapter case of Randi W. V. Muroc Joint Unified School District, 14 Cal.4th 1071, 60 Cal.Rptr.2d 263 (California, 1997). Although that case would not provide grounds against a name, rank and serial number reply used in this question.
The professor's reply is, of course, accurate. If statement is truthful even if harmful to the employee's reputation; it is not actionable as truth is a complete defense to defamation. The proof part of the statement goes to the practical aspect of the law, not merely whether the statement it is truthful but can you prove it is truthful. The professor could have gone further because most states protect employer recommendation statements with a qualified privilege allowing the statement to be false as long as it was not malicious.
You might also like to view...
The general duties clause is an_______.
A. employer right and employee responsibility B. employer and employee responsibility C. employee right and employer responsibility D. employer and employee right E. illegal concerted activity
The Celler-Kefauver statute, part of the Clayton Act, regulates asset acquisitions
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
The fundamental requirement for moving toward an event-driven model is the complete integration of data related to an organization's business events.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)
Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)
1. A trial balance contains the name of the company, the words "trial balance" and the date of the statement. 2. The required accounting period for a trial balance is one year. 3. If debits equal credits on the trial balance, it means that all the steps in the accounting process are correct. 4. Once the trial balance is correct, the next step is to prepare the financial statements, beginning with the Income Statement 5. An entry could have been posted twice and the trial balance might still balance.