Apr 30 2025
Josh Goodbaum: Hi, Amanda.
Amanda DeMatteis: Hi, Josh. What are we gonna talk about today?
Goodbaum: I want to talk about an employee who’s been terminated for alleged misconduct and is very concerned that this termination is gonna follow them for the rest of their career. They come to you and they say, “I got terminated. They say I did something wrong. Is my next employer gonna know about this?” What do you tell them?
DeMatteis: Well, to start, Josh, it’s a question of state law. My answer to that question here in Connecticut, at least, would be: No, there really isn’t a way for your subsequent employer to know why your employment with a previous employer ended, and that’s because of the Connecticut Personnel Files Act.
The Connecticut Personnel Files Act does a couple of things. Number one, it entitles Connecticut employees to see what is contained in their personnel file at any given time. In order to do that, you need to sign a release and make sure that your former employer or your current employer knows that you authorize them to release that personnel file to you, or, more importantly, to answer this question, Josh, to a third party. Without a release that you sign, which states, “Yes, employer, you can release my personnel file to X organization,” then that file stays with that employer. It can’t go anywhere unless you consent otherwise.
The same is true for information contained in that file. It’s not just the physical document itself; it’s also the information contained in it. So, if you don’t authorize that information or the documents contained in that file to leave the employer, then they don’t go anywhere.
Josh, what I have found, whether it be Connecticut employers or employers nationally, is that we don’t see employers that really want to harm former employees and tell their prospective employers, “Hey, guess what? We terminated this employee for A, B, and C.”
I’ve often told clients that are in my office: “Look, it’s not as if there’s a database out there where employers that are hiring can go and look and say, ‘Oh, that Amanda DeMatteis, she was terminated from her last job. We’d better stay away from her.’ Those things just don’t exist.” And here in Connecticut, employees have control over what leaves or what travels from one employer over to the next.
Goodbaum: That’s helpful, Amanda. Thank you. But what I’ve heard from a number of job applicants is that their potential employer will want to confirm that what they report as their employment experience is actually true. Is there a way that employees can allow their potential employer to get that confirming information without opening themselves up to the discussion about the circumstances of their termination?
DeMatteis: Yeah, the landscape here has changed, Josh, over the course of the past several years. What you’re talking about is an employment verification, and what I would tell a Connecticut employee is: Take a look in your offer letter. Take a look in the termination documents that you received. Take a look in an employee handbook.
In those spots, we might sometimes find how this particular employer will verify employment. A lot of times, Josh, they’re sending that out to third parties. There’s one that we see a lot called the Work Number. And these third parties have very limited information. They know the dates of employment, they know the last position that was held by that particular employee, and, in some circumstances, they know the last salary or pay that was provided to that particular employee. And that’s it.
So, if your former employer uses one of these third-party agencies, you could be really comfortable knowing when they call for that employment verification, that’s the only information they’re gonna get, cause the person on the other line, frankly, doesn’t have any more information to give.
Goodbaum: Really useful to know, Amanda. Thank you so much. Thank you all for watching. We’ll see you next time.
Posted by Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C. in Commentary
Tagged Amanda DeMatteis, Joshua Goodbaum
