It is generally found that certain information provided by the employee in their resume is not true. Any company hiring any new employee may want to get certain information about the worker from the companies, where the employee has worked before. But the law has stipulated that except little information like position, name of the company and duration of the working, no other information can be provided to the seeker company, unless authorized by the employee to release the information.
For example, you may have issued a Termination Letter to an employee for his misconduct, poor quality work performance or inconsistent with his duties. Now the employee is trying for an employment opportunity in another company and that company, as a background check, wants the previous company, where the employee was given termination letter, to provide the complete information of the employee such as behavior, quality of work etc., during his work tenure in the company. In such cases, you are not at a liberty to furnish this information about the employee, unless authorized by the employee and if you do not have any authorization to release the information, you can simply state that the worker has not signed Employee Information Release Authorization Copy and you are not at liberty to provide needed information.
Due to such restrictions of supplying the true information about the employee, an unfit employee may keep on changing the job, which is detrimental for the company, where he is planning to work. These reasons make it necessary that an employer should ask an employee to sign two sets of letters, which includes one for authorization and another for release, where the employee authorize the employer to release his working history at the time of background check by the other company and sign it accordingly for the benefit of the perspective company.
There are also various reasons, why an employer is reluctant in providing the information about the employee and that includes:
Below given Employee Information Release Authorization signed by the employee may save prior companies from many problematic situations that may rise in future:
Information Release Authorization
(Please read the following statements, sign below, and return to the Human Resources office.)
I, ____________, hereby authorize my prior employer, _______________, to release any and all information relating to my employment with them to ________________(your company’s name). I further release and hold harmless both ______________and _____________(your company’s name) from any and all liability that may potentially result from the release and/or use of such information. I understand that any information released by my prior employer will be held in strictest confidence, that it will be viewed only by those involved in the hiring decision, and that neither I nor anyone else not so involved will have the right to see the information.
(Applicant’s signature)___________
(Date)______________________
Note: Have the applicant fill out one of these forms for each prior employer from which you intend to seek job reference information. Using the form will make it much more likely that the prior employer will feel at liberty to release the information you request, or at least more than the usual work dates and salary confirmation that does not offer much of use in the hiring decision. Also keep in mind that if anyone refuses to sign such an authorization, your company would have the legal right to refuse to consider that person any further for hiring.
The Information Release Authorization may also be in two separate letter head, one for the prior employee and one for its applicant.
The former employee authorization includes:
I hereby request and authorize [name of your company] to provide to the above-named prospective employer all information with respect to any aspect of my employment that is in its possession or subject to its control, including information contained in my personnel file(s), and for which the above-named prospective employer asks. Such information may include, but is not limited to, the position(s) I held, my salary, the length of my employment, evaluations of my on-the-job performance (including my on-the-job behavior), and the reasons that my employment with [name of your company] ended. In this connection, I expressly ask that [name of your company] respond to all questions that are submitted to it by the above-named prospective employer.
The applicant release form has statements as follows:
I hereby request and authorize my former employer, named above, to provide to [name of your company] all information with respect to any aspect of my employment that is in its possession or subject to its control, including information contained in my personnel file(s), and for which [name of your company] asks. Such information may include, but is not limited to, the position(s) I held, my salary, the length of my employment, evaluations of my on-the-job performance (including my on-the-job behavior), and the reasons that my employment with my former employer, named above, ended. In this connection, I expressly ask that the former employer, named above, respond to all questions that are submitted to it by [name of your company].
These Information Release Authorizations are for general information purpose only and legal assistance must be taken for the release of information thorough these authorization release forms.