Immunity for employer referrals clears second round

Employers providing job references for a current or former employee would receive civil immunity under a bill advanced from select file March 29.

As amended on general file, LB959, introduced by Fremont Sen. Charlie Janssen, would provide immunity to a current or former employer who provides certain information to a prospective employer only upon written consent of the prospective employee.

A consent form would be provided during the application process and would be valid only for the length of time that the application is considered active by the prospective employer but no longer than six months.

Information that may be provided would include:
• employment date and duration;
• job description and duties;
• pay rate and wage history;
• attendance information;
• drug and alcohol test results;
• threatening or harassing behavior;
• most recent written performance evaluation; and
• whether the employee is eligible for rehire.

An employer providing information pursuant to a written consent would be immune from civil liability and presumed to be acting in good faith. The good faith presumption could be rebutted upon a showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the information was known to be false or that the employer acted with malice or reckless disregard for the truth.

Papillion Sen. Jim Smith offered an amendment on select file, adopted 29-0, that would allow disclosure of a written performance evaluation only if the evaluation was provided to the employee during the course of his or her employment.

Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln offered an amendment that would have required that any threat disclosed by an employer be documented, saying it would protect employees from false accusations.

Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop opposed the amendment, saying it would upset the balance between the interests of business owners and labor and could jeopardize the bill.

“It is very, very difficult to bring employees and employers together and get them to agree on fair treatment of this subject,” he said.

The Avery amendment failed on a 7-23 vote and senators advanced the bill from select file 33-3.