Boss says he'll give me a bad reference.

[Miss_Alef]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Dakota

I turned in a notice for quitting on 10/21/09 with my last day being 11/20/09. My boss called me the next day to inform me that a month was not a long enough notice and that he would give me a really bad reference unless I agreed to stay longer, in which case he would give me a good reference. Is that legal?

 

[ecmst12]

It wouldn't be legal for him to LIE, but even if he did lie, a slander lawsuit is expensive and time consuming. Do you already have another job to go to? If so, why would you care about his reference?

 

[cbg]

Bad references are not inherently illegal. It would depend on exactly what he said.

 

[commentator]

Why give him any notice at all if you're going to another job and don't need his reference anyhow? If you were to go in and work for him this month, he could, if he wanted to, cut your pay down to minimum wage and stop your insurance benefits for that time. It's legal. Jerk employers can do it. He may decide to fire you before you can complete your notice on some trumped up reason, trying to keep you from receiving unemployment benefits.

If you have any performance ratings he gave you that were good, or a past letter or document praising you, that would be good to keep.

If he's a big enough jerk to threaten to lie about you this way, I'd tell him that if this were to happen, you'd probably investigate filing a libel suit. And then leave. Now. As soon as you want to. Even if he's just a poor guy who more time to get prepared to fill your position, he's sure chosen a lousy way to try to get you to do what he wants.