Let’s face it—providing ref­er­ences for for­mer employ­ees can feel like walk­ing a tightrope. Employ­ers want to be hon­est, but they also want to avoid get­ting sued. Employ­ees want a fair shot at future jobs, but wor­ry that a bad ref­er­ence will sab­o­tage their chances. And as with many areas of employ­ment law, it’s not always clear where the legal lines are drawn.

In this arti­cle, we’ll explore what West Vir­ginia and fed­er­al law say about job ref­er­ences, the risks of defama­tion and retal­i­a­tion claims, and how both sides can approach the ref­er­ence game with a bit more con­fi­dence (and few­er lawsuits).

---

What Employers Can Say About Former Employees

Con­trary to pop­u­lar belief, there’s no law that says employ­ers can’t give a neg­a­tive ref­er­ence. In fact, under both West Vir­ginia and fed­er­al law, employ­ers are gen­er­al­ly free to pro­vide truth­ful, fac­tu­al infor­ma­tion about a for­mer employee’s per­for­mance, con­duct, and rea­son for separation.

Con­tin­ue read­ing The Legal Ins and Outs of Employ­ment Ref­er­ences in West Vir­ginia →