Can a contracting agency give a contractor a bad reference to keep a contractor on the market?

[slandered]

New Jersey...Is this legal? Yes or no? If not which labor law does this violate?

 

[HighwayMan]

A reference is a reference. You don't know what the motivation was and there is certainly no law against giving a bad reference.

 

[slandered]

If they were actively placing me on interviews with other customers the motivation seems fairly obvious...I would like a second opinion if this is at all possible. I am not a lawyer but apart from defamation laws I am aware there are certain laws against non- competition practices. If they are giving a bad reference for the sole purpose of excluding other employers from hiring me , by falsely representing my qualifications does this not fall into this venue? I don't know, which is why I am asking.

 

[cbg]

There are no labor laws that this violates. Labor law does not address the question of references. Your recourse, if any, will not be found in labor law.

I have yet to hear an employee acknowledge that he or she deserved a bad reference. Yet clearly some do. It's quite possible that your employer does not share your views on your qualifications.

 

[slandered]

There are no labor laws that this violates. Labor law does not address the question of references. Your recourse, if any, will not be found in labor law.

I have yet to hear an employee acknowledge that he or she deserved a bad reference. Yet clearly some do. It's quite possible that your employer does not share your views on your qualifications.

"...It's quite possible that your employer does not share your views on your qualifications..."

...yet my former employer was actively placing me on interviews with their customers. why would they do this if they did not share the same view???did you read my entire post???

 

[HighwayMan]

And how do you KNOW that they were giving you bad references??

 

[cbg]

I read every word of your post.

 

[quincy]

If they were actively placing me on interviews with other customers the motivation seems fairly obvious...I would like a second opinion if this is at all possible. I am not a lawyer but apart from defamation laws I am aware there are certain laws against non- competition practices. If they are giving a bad reference for the sole purpose of excluding other employers from hiring me , by falsely representing my qualifications does this not fall into this venue? I don't know, which is why I am asking.

Others apparently understand your situation but I am afraid I am confused by it.

You are a contractor and signed with a contracting agency. The contracting agency is lining up job interviews for you, you go on the interviews, but then the AGENCY is giving you bad references so you aren’t hired?

 

[slandered]

And how do you KNOW that they were giving you bad references??

the agency that my current employer used to hire me told me that they did, and that therefore I would have to give them another reference which I did... my friend who was a lawyer asked them to publish a retraction but they ignored her.

 

[quincy]

So you have a job that the contracting agency found for you?

What exactly has the contracting agency said about you that you find defamatory?

 

[slandered]

Others apparently understand your situation but I am afraid I am confused by it.

You are a contractor and signed with a contracting agency. The contracting agency is lining up job interviews for you, you go on the interviews, but then the AGENCY is giving you bad references so you aren’t hired?

Others apparently understand your situation but I am afraid I am confused by it.

You are a contractor and signed with a contracting agency. The contracting agency is lining up job interviews for you, you go on the interviews, but then the AGENCY is giving you bad references so you aren’t hired?

So you have a job that the contracting agency found for you?

What exactly has the contracting agency said about you that you find defamatory?

No, I work now, as devops engineer as permanent employee. The agency (a different agency) that hired me told me that my former employer-the contracting agency- said that I had performed poorly and I would have to supply them with another reference, which I did...(that i had performed poorly was an outright lie as the customer was incompetent and did not give me the tools I needed to do the job they wanted me to do)

 

[quincy]

No, I work now, as devops engineer as permanent employee. The agency that hired me told me that my former employer-the contracting agency- said that I had performed poorly and I would have to supply them with another reference, which I did.

Thank you for clarifying your situation for me.

“Performed poorly” is all that the contracting agency said in their reference? The agency did not provide examples of what they considered poor performance, and your current employer did not ask for examples?

Do you have additional references that you can provide to your current employer?

 

[slandered]

Thank you for clarifying your situation for me.

“Performed poorly” is all that the contracting agency said in their reference? The agency did not provide examples of what they considered poor performance, and your current employer did not ask for examples?

Do you have additional references that you can provide to your current employer?

Do you have additional references that you can provide to your current employer?

Yes I did...So I want to know if there is a way I can legally punish the contracting agency that gave me the bad reference.

 

[slandered]

Because when the customer let me go they lied to me and told me I could use them as a reference...but apparently only if it were a job lined up by this particular contracting agency.

 

[quincy]

Do you have additional references that you can provide to your current employer?

Yes I did...So I want to know if there is a way I can legally punish the contracting agency that gave me the bad reference.

Can you legally “punish” the contracting agency? Not easily.

The major reason for this is that you found employment despite whatever was said in the bad reference. You therefore have no demonstrable injury.