Termination

What is the name of your state? Florida,I live in Florida, I was recently terminated and told the reason was elimination of position. Yesterday a potential employer called my ex-boss about a product which my ex employer(distributor) sells and buys from the potiential employer(manufacture), she was told that the reason I was fired was because all the product I sold for them came back. This is not what they told me, I thought they could only tell hire and fire dates.
Sincerely,
Pete R.

There are no laws which prohibit an employer from giving references and providing a prospective employer any information they might wish to share, with the exception of any medical information your ex-employer may have on file.

If your employer knowingly tells falsehoods about you and you suffer damages as a result, then you would likely have the basis of a lawsuit.

For example, if you were fired for stealing, your employer is free to reveal that information in a reference check. If you left for any other reason and the employer says you were fired for stealing and because of that you are unable to obtain employment, you can sue.

Termination2

Dear Beth3,
Thank you for the information. Would I be able to assume that if my ex-employer(President) made it very clear to myself, Human Resources and my immediate supervisor(VP). That my position was eliminated and it had nothing to do with my performance. But then tells a perspective employer that I was let go because of product that I sold had been returned and then I do not get the job, I might have a basis for a law suite?
Sincerely,
Pete R.

Not necessarily.

1. I presume you don't know exactly what your ex-employer said in the reference as it's unlikely you were listening in on an extension when the prospective employer made the call. It's possible they said that your position was eliminated and that your performance factored into that decision. (That is often the case in deciding which jobs/employees to reduce.) If that's what they said, or words to that effect, then they were being truthful.

2. It's possible your employer lied to you when you were terminated and was truthful in the reference. It is not required that an employer give an employee a truthful reason for their separation.

3. It's possible that the prospective employer is misrepresenting the situation to you. The fact that they would reveal information they obtained in a reference check (which is just not DONE by circumspect employers) raises questions about them in my mind. It's not likely but it is possible.

4. Even if you can establish with 100% certainty that your employer lied and that is the sole reason you did not get this job, I tend to doubt that missing out on one job opportunity demonstrates sufficient damages to prevail in a lawsuit.