How to Give a Negative Employee Reference

Video Transcript

"There may be times when you will have to give a negative employee reference. My name is Gloria Campbell. I'm with Advantage Training Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida. And I want to talk to you about why you would want to, and why you might need to. A specific instance that comes to mind was an employee who had threats against his former employee. Actually physical threats toward employees that worked there and he had been documented with mental instability. That employee went to work for another company. The previous company did not share that information with the company because they were afraid of giving a negative reference. That employee did conduct acts that ended with several employees at the current company being killed, property being damaged, and they then sued the former company for not giving them all the information that they need to make an informed decision. It's difficult sometimes. Make sure that it's not personal vendetta, make sure that it is not here say, make sure that it's not against your company policy, but if you have information that an employee is dangerous or mentally unstable and would not make a good employee for that company, you need to make sure that you communicate that information to them. The other thing is always make sure that you have a legal release from that employee that you can release information. My name is Gloria Campbell. I'm with Advantage Training Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida and there are times when you will need to give a negative reference for a former employee."