Blacklist

Trauma Columnist · Jun 15, 2007

If you mean blacklisted and you can't get a job, difficult to prove. If however, they made false claims to your board of nursing,, then I would certainly contact a lawyer.

We can't venture into legal advice.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jun 15, 2007

Hi, Yulee7!

This is actually very easy to confirm. Either you, or have a friend, call this agency and ask for a reference on you. You'll need your social security number and maybe some other personal information like a date of birth and the names and dates of the facilities at which you worked. Just ask if they can tell you what kind of worker you were, were there ever any complaints about you? If they are giving out malicious information they'll do it up front. Most legitimate and law-abiding companies won't even ask for this kind of information, much less be stupid enough to give it out over the phone.

After the call, write a letter to the agency informing them that they are being put on notice that from this date forward they are restricted to only releasing your dates of work, your job position and that you terminated voluntarily (this means that you resigned) to anyone asking for references on you and nothing else. I would hand deliver the letter to make sure they get it or send it by certified mail and ask the post office to get a signed receipt that they will return to you proving that the agency got the letter.

You have the right to put this kind of restriction on your personnel record of any company or facility that you worked for. Most companies of integrity will only release that information and nothing else--period. Whatever else went on between you and them is confidential. Sometimes you have to remind an employer of this.

No one but you can do anything to damage your license and make it "unclean". Any potential employer who falls for that is not someone you want to work for! Anyone who hires a licensed nurse should know how to verify and check the license of an RN or LPN with the state board of nursing. If they don't and are willing to take the word of some unknown goofball at an agency, you shouldn't be working for them--if they're sloppy about checking on the background of the licensing of their nurses, what else are they sloppy about?

Welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

RNOTODAY, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2007

Hi, Yulee7!
This is actually very easy to confirm. Either you, or have a friend, call this agency and ask for a reference on you. You'll need your social security number and maybe some other personal information like a date of birth and the names and dates of the facilities at which you worked. Just ask if they can tell you what kind of worker you were, were there ever any complaints about you? If they are giving out malicious information they'll do it up front. Most legitimate and law-abiding companies won't even ask for this kind of information, much less be stupid enough to give it out over the phone.
After the call, write a letter to the agency informing them that they are being put on notice that from this date forward they are restricted to only releasing your dates of work, your job position and that you terminated voluntarily (this means that you resigned) to anyone asking for references on you and nothing else. I would hand deliver the letter to make sure they get it or send it by certified mail and ask the post office to get a signed receipt that they will return to you proving that the agency got the letter.
You have the right to put this kind of restriction on your personnel record of any company or facility that you worked for. Most companies of integrity will only release that information and nothing else--period. Whatever else went on between you and them is confidential. Sometimes you have to remind an employer of this.
No one but you can do anything to damage your license and make it "unclean". Any potential employer who falls for that is not someone you want to work for! Anyone who hires a licensed nurse should know how to verify and check the license of an RN or LPN with the state board of nursing. If they don't and are willing to take the word of some unknown goofball at an agency, you shouldn't be working for them--if they're sloppy about checking on the background of the licensing of their nurses, what else are they sloppy about?
Welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

Really? Is this true for all states?

You rock daytonite.....you are a wealth of information and advice....

can you be my life coach???? :idea:

PoppaD · Jun 16, 2007

Hi, Yulee7!
This is actually very easy to confirm. Either you, or have a friend, call this agency and ask for a reference on you. You'll need your social security number and maybe some other personal information like a date of birth and the names and dates of the facilities at which you worked. Just ask if they can tell you what kind of worker you were, were there ever any complaints about you? If they are giving out malicious information they'll do it up front. Most legitimate and law-abiding companies won't even ask for this kind of information, much less be stupid enough to give it out over the phone.
After the call, write a letter to the agency informing them that they are being put on notice that from this date forward they are restricted to only releasing your dates of work, your job position and that you terminated voluntarily (this means that you resigned) to anyone asking for references on you and nothing else. I would hand deliver the letter to make sure they get it or send it by certified mail and ask the post office to get a signed receipt that they will return to you proving that the agency got the letter.
You have the right to put this kind of restriction on your personnel record of any company or facility that you worked for. Most companies of integrity will only release that information and nothing else--period. Whatever else went on between you and them is confidential. Sometimes you have to remind an employer of this.
No one but you can do anything to damage your license and make it "unclean". Any potential employer who falls for that is not someone you want to work for! Anyone who hires a licensed nurse should know how to verify and check the license of an RN or LPN with the state board of nursing. If they don't and are willing to take the word of some unknown goofball at an agency, you shouldn't be working for them--if they're sloppy about checking on the background of the licensing of their nurses, what else are they sloppy about?
Welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

I do not know for certain that one has a right to limit the type of information that a current or past employer can forward on to a potential employer. I would advise the person in question to particular careful as she signs application forms because often times the applicant consents to allow past employers to release the very details that we are talking about right now. A word to the wise: always read the fine print!

There is one thing that I am certain about: if a past employer is unwilling to say anything good about your service, or will only confirm your dates of employment...something generally stinks. So...as a past manager, it has been my experience to not only pay attention to what IS being said, but also to what is NOT being said about a potential employee.

Agnus · Jun 16, 2007

It is my understanding that technically you do have the right to limit or even have no information given out about you. I believe this falls under privacy laws. On the other hand, as at least one poster has pointed out, we are often asked to sign a statement when being considered for a new job that says you give a past employer cart blanch to give out anything.

The good thing is some times you get to select which past employers are sent the statement.

To find out what is happening I would be disinclined to have just a friend make inquiries. The reason is you might destroy your own case by someone impersonating someone from an personal office.

Better to have an actual employer make an inquiry. And find out from them what was said. If you have a friend who works in personal in any business, or even a friend who is a small business owner who hires without a personal director and you could get them to cooperate you could build a case against this person and the agency if in fact they are doing as you suspect.

To have a solid case your actions in investigating this must be above reproach. That means no pretending that someone is a personal director.You could go to the state employment agency and explain your problem and ask them to check for you. Usually they will help if you are having problems.

Agnus · Jun 16, 2007

If you are having trouble there may be something else going on. Nursing is a small world. Especially where an agency is involved. This person may simply be gossiping about you and things have gotten around. In this case you will have a much harder time proving anything or getting any of legal satisfaction.

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 16, 2007

Also, just because you are getting an unfavorable reference from a previous employer, that doesn't mean anything illegal is going on. As others have said, if you give permission for your "new" company to contact previous employers for a reference, those previous employers are not obligated to say only positive things. They can say that they were not happy with your performance and that you are not eligible for re-hire.

It's pretty hard to prove that anything illegal is going on unless you can showing that they are saying things that are not true or saying things without having been asked for a reference and doing it maliciously. If you really think something illegal is going on, you will need to talk with a lawyer because we are NURSES here, not lawyers.