Employment references?

I have been trying to find a better job , but fear that a past employer is giving me a bad reference.
How can I check what kind of reference a past employer may be giving me

make a call to your employer as potential employment for yourself....in other words pretend to be a company that is calling to get a reference for you...good luck!!!

have a friend call them to verify your references...see what they say.

In Ohio at least, previous employers are not allowed to discuss anything except the dates in which you were employed and the job title.

It's illegal for a former employer to give a negative reference. At least here in New York and I am assuming this is a federal law.

Maybe try calling them yourself and acting like prospective employer and ask the questions that most ask...which by the way you can search for using a search engine. Good luck!!

Do this tell one of few friends that u have and tell them to pretend that is u old bosse's. I do that and it works but tell them not give personal information like u salary how much u got, etc just reference ur always on time hardworker, like's to work by ur self stuff like that

you could send me a resume and I could send them a request for varifacation of infomation and a signned release from you. Any friend that has a business lic and a phone number and a address do this for you too.

or you could hirer a PI to get that infomation for you and sit back and wait and see what they are saying. He will charge you about 350.00 I will charge you a 6 pak. your chose.

This is trick; on the one hand you DO NOT want a friend or the pizza delivery guy calling trying to pose as a potential employer to try to get "the scooop" for you. This is simply ridiculous. Try going to a reputable company such as badreferences.com that is well-known and that can pose as a legitimate company for you, have legal paperwork already prepared and help you proceed if past employers are actually giving more than they are legally required or giving damaging information.

There is NO law anywhere that states an employer cannot give you a bad reference IF what that employer is saying is TRUE. For instance, if you were fired for theft and the employer says you were fired for theft, guess what, you have no action. Its the truth. If you quit, however, or were fired for poor performance and the employer says you were fired for theft, THEN its false and defamatory and you have a civil action. Many companies prefer only to give out information that relates to dates of employment, job title and salary, but that's their option. There is no law, state or federal which prevents them from telling the truth about you. Just to clear up what everyone else here is saying. Try badreferences.com to see what they're saying, but if its true, you're out of luck.