What Can My Previous Employer Say About Me?

Employers doing employee background checks will likely get in touch with your former employers, but the information they can get is strictly regulated.

A former boss can legally say anything truthful about your past performance. Most employers, however, have internal policies that allow them only to confirm dates of employment, final salary and other limited information. These policies come to fill in the gap and keep employers from abusing their right to share information "truthfully." It's no secret that companies that do employee background checks often come into contact with managers that didn't get along with their former employees.

Some specialized jobs or high-security jobs require more information from prospective employees. People doing an employee background check for driving jobs, for example, can get driving records.

Jobs such as these often fall under other federal regulators, such as the Department of Transportation for drivers. An example of the specialized information allowed under the DOT is drug tests, former employers must reveal whether a drug test had been giving, refused or failed.

High security jobs often require more allowances from prospective employees and many specialty forms that bypass federal law