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Can Your Ex-Employer Share Information About Your Termination

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  • 04-18-2019, 09:58 AM
    DaysOffAgain
    Can Your Ex-Employer Share Information About Your Termination
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of:

    People at a firm where I previously worked where I was PIP'd and decide to go through with it to get the severance and proceed with job search. Have shared with the current company that it was a termination and this is something being used against me. What are my options from here? Do I have any legal recourse against the previous firm?
  • 04-18-2019, 10:05 AM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    You left out your state. It may matter.

    That said, did you leave the job by your own choice? If not you were terminated.
  • 04-18-2019, 10:27 AM
    DaysOffAgain
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    Took the termination. It was like a lay-off. Came with severance package, outplacement help, etc and HR said I was eligible for re-hire.
  • 04-18-2019, 10:30 AM
    cbg
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    It is always legal, in all 50 states, to share the reason you are no longer working for the company with other companies unless a legally binding and enforceable contract or court order says otherwise.

    Every time you leave the company it's a termination. If you quit, it's a voluntary termination. Otherwise, it's an involuntary one. "Termination" is not a synonym for "fired".
  • 04-18-2019, 10:54 AM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    Quote:

    Quoting DaysOffAgain
    View Post
    Took the termination. It was like a lay-off. Came with severance package, outplacement help, etc and HR said I was eligible for re-hire.

    So it was involuntary. You were discharged.

    How do you KNOW that what your former employer is saying is what is hampering your job search?

    I'm also curious what you meant by especially the bolded part.

    Quote:

    I was PIP'd and decide to go through with it to get the severance and proceed with job search.
  • 04-18-2019, 11:32 AM
    DaysOffAgain
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    I was told by a hiring manager that they knew the information about the PIP. Bolded part - choices taken by people are to leave in the middle of it, ride it out to get the severance, or work through it to keep the job.
  • 04-18-2019, 12:23 PM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    In the HR world, PIP generally means Performance Improvement Plan and the two option are to follow & improve or get fired.

    I don't quite understand what ride it out to get the severance means but it certainly sounds like getting discharged with a severance package. But former employers, pretty much like anyone else, don't get in trouble for telling the truth. Do you have any reason to think they lied about your service with their company?
  • 04-18-2019, 01:44 PM
    pg1067
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    Quote:

    Quoting DaysOffAgain
    View Post
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of:

    People at a firm where I previously worked where I was PIP'd and decide to go through with it to get the severance and proceed with job search. Have shared with the current company that it was a termination and this is something being used against me. What are my options from here? Do I have any legal recourse against the previous firm?

    You didn't identify your state, but I don't know of any state that prohibits a former employer from sharing true facts with a subsequent employer regarding the circumstances of the termination of an employee's employment.
  • 04-18-2019, 02:31 PM
    cbg
    Re: Company Sharing Information on Termination with Other Company
    Agree with PayrolGuy that to the average HR person, PIP means that you were on a last chance agreement to improve your performance. Maybe in your company that was an acronym for something else, but during my hiring days if someone told me they were on a PIP, I'd take it that they were a poor worker who lost their job because of their own job performance.

    Are you perhaps referring to what most of the HR world would refer to as an RIF - Reduction in Force? If so, then I suspect the problem is not with what the employer is saying. Stop telling employers that you were PIP'd and see if the response changes.

    Unless, of course, you actually were on a Performance Improvement Plan. In which case the employer will (legally) say so anyway.
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