After the Pink Slip

Chris knew the pink slip was coming. The timing was a bit of a surprise ,but not the actual firing. What was a surprise was the email the HR department sent out to the entire company after Chris left.

In the email the HR department said, "  Chris is no longer with the company and may contact some of you for a reference. Before you talk to anyone contact HR."

A former coworker forwarded the email to Chris. Chris was not happy, interpreting the email as a warning that Chris couldn't use anyone at the company as a reference.

While the wording of this email is clumsy at best, an HR  specialist explained what was going on. Bottom line, the company isn't really concerned about Chris and Chris's new job search.  No surprise the email was all about the company  covering its butt.

But not for the reasons Chris thought.

Just about one year ago,  Minnesota passed a law which protects employers who want to give  "honest, truthful references on past and present employees and follow the newly created ."

One of the provisions of this law is that the employer is only protected if specified people give the feedback. In other words, if someone who knows someone who knows someone calls and asks about Chris, those persons could be sued if they give negative feedback.

Likewise,a company that fails to share negative information could be sued for not providing a potential employer with pertinent information. Ouch. So much for Minnesota nice.

Hence the insulting email. What the HR consultant said would be a better approach is to send an email any time anyone leaves the company even if they leaving on positive terms,reminding the staff what the state law says and what the company policy on references is-- that way it doesn't look as if the company is trying to blackball anyone, even though it probably is.

NOTE: CHRIS is a pseudonym