What are previous employers allowed to say to other employers inquiring about you and can they reveal that you've been fired if you live in California?

== == Previous employers can tell prospective employers the dates in which you were employed and whether or not they would re-hire you. == == If they won't rehire you, that is the clue that you were/are trouble and it is just as good as the "fired " Word to a prospective employer. The above answer is INCORRECT. Former and current employers can LEGALLY say anything correct about an employee that they want to. While many companies have internal policies that define what employees can and cannot say about current or former employees, those policies fall far short of being laws in any sense. Policies are nothing more than rules generated by the HR department and adopted by a company. They include everything from how many paid vacation days the company offers to rules about attendance and punctuality. But they are not laws that some legislative body external to the company has made to which a criminal penalty has been attached. That is the difference between the rules a company decides to adopt and laws that make it illegal to do things like speed or run stop signs. For example, numerous job seekers wonder, "What can a former employer legally say about me?" If that question is taken literally, the answer is "anything." I'm not aware of any laws that restrict or bar employers -- or anyone else -- from exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. That is not to suggest, however, there are no consequences associated with what is said, especially if it's an intentional lie. In other Words, freedom of speech is not absolute. The classic example is you can't shout "fire" in a crowded movie theater and claim you're not responsible for any injuries you cause, because you were just exercising your right of free speech. Similarly, although there are no laws restricting what prospective employers can ask either, there may be legal consequences if a hiring decision is based on the answers. For instance, asking questions about age, race, sex, religion, national origin and so forth, all of which are federally protected categories, isn't unlawful, but it certainly is unlawful to make an employment decision based on the answers to any of these questions. You can ask, but if you act on the answer, there very likely will be negative legal consequences.