Can an ex employer legally not respond to a company looking to verify previous employment ?

My ex-employer ( Tree of Life , Inc ) is holding up a company looking to hire me by ignoring a request by them for previous employment verifacation , is this legal ?

Can an ex employer legally not respond to a company looking to verify previous employment ?
Yes and no. Unfortunately there are no laws that exist where an employer must give a positive recommendation or no recommendation; HOWEVER, if you can prove the reason why they are doing this is retaliatory you can actually pursue legal action against them. All states have different laws regarding obtaining your employee records. Since you do not mention what state you are in it is difficult for me to advise you. Some states for example have laws where an employee has upwards of one year to request their records in writing and the company has 30 days to allow the employee to obtain the records. Again, I do not know what your state laws are since you do not mention what state you are in.
Reply:Unfortunately, NYS with the exception of Connecticut does not have any laws requiring a private employer to give copies to present or former employees. Good luck to you Buddy.... Report Abuse

Reply:It is legal. But its not illegal either... there's just no law that says a company has to respond in a given period of time or even at all, to requests for employment records or referrals.





Typically companies, like the one you formerly worked for, will never say anything negative about you on a ref feral for fear that you may take them to court.





Try calling your old company just to inform either somebody in HR, or an old coworker who you were friendly with that this new company may be calling to verify your tenure there.
Reply:yes it is legal, and no you can not get your records unless they are willing to give them to you
Reply:Yes. You could go there and ask for a copy of your records and provide them to the new employer.
Reply:Yes.