This audio conference was recorded on Thursday - February 26, 2009

Credits:

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification.

Description:

Sooner or later, you will be called on to provide an employee reference – in fact, you may have a request on your desk right now. The conventional wisdom is to provide “just the facts, ma’am” - confirming an employee’s title and dates of employment. But is this stringent rule fair to a star performer? And could you be opening yourself up to liability by keeping mum about a troubled (or possibly violent) former worker? What if you say too much and the worker sues you for defamation?

On the flip side, there is an art to interpreting the references you receive to make sure you don’t wind up hiring a dud. You need to know how to read between the lines and also how to ask the right questions – the ones that will make your source spill the real dirt.

Order this in-depth audio conference recording all about the right way to give – and receive – employee references.

Speaker(s):

Alva Cross, Esq. is an associate in the Tampa, Florida, office Fisher & Phillips, LLP, where she represents management in all areas of labor and employment law. Cross received her law degree cum laude from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida. Prior to that, she received her undergraduate degree in Criminology from the University of Tampa.

Cross represents employers before both state and federal courts, as well as in agency proceedings. She provides day-to-day employment counseling advice to her clients. Cross also assists clients with the various challenges facing today’s businesses and supervisors, ranging from compliance with state and federal employment requirements to hiring, training, evaluating, and retaining employees in an ever-changing labor market.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• What could put you at risk of providing a “negligent reference” – and why this is something you want to avoid at all costs
• Why it’s not sufficient to plan to “just tell the truth” when an prospective employer calls
• The questions you should ask when calling for a reference, and how to read between the lines to interpret what the other employer isn’t saying
• How to respond when you’re asked for a reference for a dreadful, dangerous, or difficult employee
• Whether it’s ever better to say nothing at all
• The disclaimer language you need to protect your organization