company breaking there own contract

[chrisdizz22]

What is the name of your state? nebraska

i was fired from a job because i missed to many days, my fault . but the thing is i think they are giving me bad a reference- and in there employee manual they state that at the time of termination they will give no other information to prospective employers then the day you stared and finished and what your job was- unless you consent to them doing so. which i have not done.. is this illegal since they have it written in the employee manual. and if it is how do i catch them in the act- and what can i do if i do catch them doing it

 

[cbg]

The fact that they say in the employee handbook that they will only give dates of employment, does NOT make it illegal if they vary from that policy.

First of all, from what you said you don't KNOW that they're giving you a bad reference at all. Secondly, if what they are saying is that you were fired for excessive absences, since that is true it is NOT illegal no matter what it says in the employee handbook.

A bad reference is only illegal if they are saying something that is FALSE. Not an opinion that you disagree with, not something negative but true, not a misunderstanding, but FALSE.

The burden of proof is entirely upon you to show first, that what was said is UNTRUE, second, that it was broadcast to an audience, and third, that as a direct result of what was said, you have suffered damages.

So what makes you think that they are giving you a bad reference?

 

[chrisdizz22]

i havent been able to find a job in 8 months- and the reason i got fired was because we had a bad snow storm, and i live way out in the country- we had 21 " of snow and my dodge neon wasnt moving at all, i was snowed in for four days before the plows made it here.

and since its down in writing- you would think that it is a contract-that they should abide by- why would they put that in the employee handbook if they didnt intend on using it.

this company is something else- there known around the city for being bad- they tried to not pay me my vactaion that i didnt take amounting to like a thousand dollars, and then took money out for insurance. and uniforms that they said they couldnt find, but were all there when i took them up to the office to turn them in..

 

[chrisdizz22]

then you would think the paper that i signed saying that i would not give out trade secrets, would not be a contarct either because there were both written in the same format

and the owner signs every page of the manual

 

[Beth3]

and since its down in writing- you would think that it is a contract-that they should abide by Just because something is written down on a piece of paper doesn't make it a contract. Would you want everything you ever put in writing to constitute a contract?

 

[cbg]

We're in an economy where hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in the last three years; where every job that is posted can have as many as 300 applicants; where highly qualified people can be searching for a job for up to two years.

But the only possible reason you haven't found a job in eight months is that your employer is saying bad things about you?

Not enough for a legal claim.

 

[chrisdizz22]

if its not a contract then what is it- the vacation stuff is in the same book- and if it says that you get one week of vaction a year and they dont give it to you then its fine because its not a contract.

in your own words what is a contract-

 

[chrisdizz22]

im not really looking for a legal claim- i just want them to go by what the have written in there manual- and yeah im not for sure that they are saying bad stuff- but i have applied alot of places with no success - even jobs that i am over qualified for.

i just want to know how do i find out what they are saying, and how to i bring it to there attention that they are not going by there own manual

 

[cbg]

Here's a definition of a contract that I took from a legal site:

"A binding agreement between two or more parties for performing, or refraining from performing, some specified act(s) in exchange for lawful consideration."

What is there in the employee handbook that YOU agree to do? What consideration is spelled out in the handbook?

The majority of employee handbooks specifically state that they are NOT contracts.

I repeat, you have provided NO evidence other than your failure to find other employment to even remotely suggest that your employer is saying anything at all about you. There can be dozens of reasons other than bad references for you to be having trouble finding employment in this economy.

But here's a question for you, and the answer will indicate whether there's even a suggestion of a possiblity that bad references are involved.

(a) Are you getting calls for interviews, asked for references, and then after the references are called you hear nothing more? or

(b) Are you getting not getting called for interviews?

If (a), then there is at least a possibility that you are receiving bad references. As long as they are true, that is not illegal, regardless of how badly you want the employee handbook to be a contract. It is not PROOF of it. There can still be any number of reasons why you're not getting jobs. But it's a POSSIBILITY.

However, if it's (b), then I GUARANTEE you that your former employer has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Employers do NOT call for references before deciding who to call for interviews; that would be a complete and total misuse of their time. They ONLY call for interviews after they have interviewed everyone they are going to interview, and decided on their top two or three candidates. (Note that not everyone whose references are checked is going to get the job in any case - most employers call on more than one candidate and clearly only one candidate is going to get the job.)

 

[Beth3]

if its not a contract then what is it- the vacation stuff is in the same book- and if it says that you get one week of vaction a year and they dont give it to you then its fine because its not a contract. Nebraska laws require the payout of vacation pay if the employer has elected to have such a policy. This has NOTHING to do with whether or not the handbook is a contract.

Both Nebraska laws and federal laws are silent on the subject of references however (other than any "hold harmless" legislation), therefore an employer may do whatever they wish to by way of providing references regardless of what they have written down in their handbook.

Besides, you don't have any idea whether your ex-employer is giving out anything more than dates of employment. You're just making that assumption.

It's a two-edged sword by the way. I've declined to extend offers to candidates because I couldn't get anything EXCEPT dates of hire from past employers. I need to know a lot more than that about a candidate's job history and performance before hiring him/her.