Scope: This document provides guidelines for LTS supervisors and others to follow when asked to provide a reference for an employee seeking other employment. Additions and changes to the content of this procedure must be approved by the Director of Library Human Resources.
Contact: Jason Kovari
Unit: Senior Management Team
Date last updated: 09/08/20
Date of next review: September 2022
A. Need for Guidelines
Providing references about former or current employees is a necessary and inevitable part of a supervisor's job. Supervisors need to have a clear understanding of what one can say so as to not put themselves or the university in legal jeopardy. The purpose of these guidelines is to assist staff in deciding what they can say when they are asked to comment about current or former employees who are being considered for other positions.
B. Existing Policies
The university policies that are relevant to the issue of reference checking are in the University's Human Resources Policy Manual. Policy 6.13.4 on Personnel Files stipulates what information can be made available that is contained in current or former employees' files: Public information such as name, confirmation of employment, position title, and dates of employment. Requests by Federal, State or local law enforcement agencies would be referred to Day Hall without exceptions. Policy 6.6.2 on Reference Checking outlines procedures for hiring supervisors to follow when doing reference checks.
When a hiring supervisor does reference checks on prospective employees, they must obtain their consent to talk to their references. In fact, the library and university human resources offices are quite clear on this point. The hiring supervisor may not talk to a current employer without the candidate's permission. This prohibition, however, only applies to candidates who are not Cornell employees. It is not necessary for Cornell employees who work in other departments because all Cornell departments or offices (including those at Weill Cornell) are seen legally as one employer. However, in most cases professional courtesy mandates that candidates should be informed before supervisors or colleagues in another department are contacted.
C. Guidelines for LTS Staff
From the above information, clear guidelines about what one would say to someone who calls for a reference check on an employee or former employee can be inferred. You should say nothing to the caller other than the name, employment status, title, and dates of employment unless you know for sure that the employee in question has authorized the check. How would you know that? Because the employee would have told you, preferably in writing, that it is ok. Or because the caller showed you written evidence that it was ok.
When circumstances are such that you can give a recommendation, what do you say or write?
You should stick to factual information and stay away from judgmental statements, especially if you cannot back them up with documented facts. If you can prove that you told the truth, you are protected from libel and defamation of character charges. For instance, you could say that John Doe was absent over 25% of the time if you can produce documentation of that, but not say that John was lazy or didn't like to show up to work.
Volunteering information, especially negative information, is not wise unless the negative information would impact the security or safety of the new workplace. For instance, if one of our employees is terminated for theft and we get a call for a reference for a job dealing with money, we could be liable for contributing to negligent hiring if we have solid evidence of the theft and do not warn the new employer. If you are ever faced with this kind of situation, consult with the Director of Library Human Resources or your respective member of the LTS Senior Management Team before you say or write anything.