BLACKBALLING! What employers can and cannot say about you

When approached by your potential employer, most previous employers are aware that the only thing that they can do is verify your employment title and dates of employment, unless there are legal issues such as dishonesty, safety, etc. Here is the story of an employer who got sued because he didn't follow the law.

According to Philly.com (not CA, I know), a former Best Buy Manager is suing the company for preventing him from obtaining gainful employment.

Stung by a scathing job reference, a South Jersey man filed a federal lawsuit last week, claiming that Best Buy, his former employer, blackballed him.

Michael Oliveri, 47, said it was impossible to find a new job after he was fired in August 2006 from Best Buy, the electronics megamart.

In his suit, Oliveri said he became suspicious after job offers at Circuit City and Target were abruptly terminated.

So Oliveri, of Columbus, Burlington County, hatched a plan.

He created an e-mail account using the name of a Target employee. Then Oliveri sent a note to his former company asking for a “candidate reference.”

According to Oliveri’s lawsuit, the district human resources manager, Ann McCafferty, allegedly responded:

“I will give you the skinny on him but you can’t say you got any info from Best Buy or we can be sued. Just don’t hire him and say you went with a better candidate.

“He was hired as GM and demoted after 12 months or so because he sucked. He is desperate for a job because supposedly his wife left him because he has no job. I would not touch him.

“Again, do not forward this e-mail to anybody or say where you heard the info from because we were not allowed to give this info out, but I would hate you to get stuck with this guy!”

• Needless to say, Oliveri did not get the job.

If she indeed said these things, I’d love to find out what this HR Manager was thinking, not only for saying such things but for putting it in writing and then requesting it not be forwarded (an invitation to do just that).

Honest feedback is often appreciated but can truly land one in hot water.

I’m all for letting a potential employer know if there are violence/safety issues, but I still believe the path of least resistance is to provide only name, rank and serial number.

And Lord knows, we all need as little resistance as possible.