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Termination Possible For Job Hunting?

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ccrider77

Guest
I live in Southern California.

We had an incident recently where a candidate for employment checked the box that states: "You may NOT contact previous employer." Well, HR made a mistake and accidentally submitted that employer to the background screening company resulting in them being contacted.

Question: Can an employer take action against an employee for seeking either supplemental employment or other employment? Are there any laws to prevent the employee from being terminated or otherwise discriminated against in a situation like this?

Question 2: If the employee does lose their job because of this, is their any recourse against the prospective company which tipped off the employer that their employee was seeking employment?

Thank you!
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
1.) If the employer chooses, they may fire the employee for job seeking. Not all employers will do so, but I've known one or two who would. It's legal.

2.) Possibly, and I don't know CA law on this, but I think the employee would have to show that it was done maliciously. Technically, a prospective employer has the right to contact pretty much anyone they want, and the tradition of not contacting current employers is done as a courtesy to the employee/applicant. It's not illegal to contact current employers even without permission (unless CA has a law I'm not aware of). Maybe one of the lawyers will have additional information.
 

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