EMPLOyER'S PRACTICAL LEGAL GUIDE Plain Language About ...

1.20 Employer’s Practical Legal Guidestatement to the authorization that the candidate releasesreferences from liability for anything they say. The waivershould also provide that any reference material will remainconfidential and that the candidate may not see it, whetherhired or not. Without this assurance, many former employersand other common references are naturally reluctant to providemore than dates of employment and position held.)• Focus on the facts: What were the job responsibilities? Underwhat conditions did he work best? Why did he leave the company?Would you rehire him?• Ask references only those questions that you can lawfullyask candidates.• Never rely on a single reference.It’s legal to check public records to verify a candidate’s credentials.You can call a university to confirm a degree or a licensingbody to verify that a candidate is really certified. You can run acriminal records check to see if an applicant was ever convicted ofa crime (although it’s illegal to ask about a criminal arrest, whichmeans the person was only suspected of a crime). Some states makeit illegal to refuse to hire someone convicted of a summary offenseor a misdemeanor. Always check with an employment law attorney.If you are asked to provide a reference for one of your formeremployees, be careful what you say. (Guidelines for providing referencesare given in Section 7 under “Terminations.”)‘Protected’ CandidatesA “protected” applicant is one who has one or more of the characteristicsdefined by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is age40 or older or is disabled. If any of your application procedurestends to screen out certain classes of applicants—such as womenor the disabled—in a way that has nothing to do with the essentialfunctions of the job, you could be accused of discrimination.Some states and municipalities have laws against discriminationbased on sexual preference. Check the laws in your area. Ifsuch statutes are on the books, then gay and lesbian applicants, tothe extent you can identify them, are protected candidates as well.