a primer on employment law and practices in the United States

There will be several posts in this sticky thread.

The first post is meant to answer a very common question:

Would my current employer find out that I am looking for another job?

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In the US, any prospective employer who wishes to contact your current employer for a reference check must first inform you in writing of the plan to do so, and obtain a written authorization from you. Prospective employers must give you a separate written notice of the plan to conduct a background check on you - this announcement cannot be buried amidst other info but must be presented as a separate document.

Hence, unless you yourself agree, in writing, to a prospective employer's calling your current employer, such calls cannot be legally made. Usually, prospective employers request authorization to call the current employer later in the hiring process, often after they have made a conditional offer of employment.

To sum up, just because you list your current employer on job applications when applying for employment elsewhere does NOT mean that your employer will be called and thus learn of your job search efforts.

Here are some common sense tips to avoid letting on more than you want to:

1) If you have a LinkedIn profile and want to look for a job while being on your current job, it is advisable to turn off notifications of updates to your network - if you have your current manager(s) among your LinkedIn contacts and all of a sudden there is a flurry of updates, such activity may be a giveaway. So if you do not want to let your current employer know about your job search until you have accepted an offer elsewhere, turn off LinkedIn notifications.

2) Do not conduct job search using your company's email account or phone number.

3) If you must schedule a phone screen during your working hours, either step outside to talk to the interviewer or book a conference room or telephone booth for yourself, to keep your business private.

good information to know

Thanks!. I will be updating with info on disability and employment - little by little.

A couple of thoughts based on what I see in this thread:

Generally, you can not be terminated with cause if the employer has not coached or documented your non-performance over a period of time. If the employer lets you go with a severance package or the language of laying you off, you are entitled to unemployment. If you feel that the separation was trumped up, file for unemployment. Heck, even if they say it's for cause, file for it, because often the employer will just pay the unemployment because it's easier than proving cause.

One needs to check for the Collective Bargaining Agreement for employment for one's particular working industry. As the convention collective automobile .

Liberty mad be blind but she still heavily discriminates.