Former Employer Disclosing the Reason for Termination to a New Employer

Attorney Answer

Because what your former employer passed along appears to be accurate in substance, a defamation claim would be an uphill fight — falsity is a required element, and Utah separately recognizes a privilege covering employer communications about a former employee.

Under Utah law, defamation requires that the defendant published a statement concerning you, that the statement was false and defamatory, that it was not subject to a privilege, that it was published with the required degree of fault, and that it caused you damage (Wayment v. Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc., 2005 UT 25, 116 P.3d 271). Falsity is the element doing the work in your situation. On what you have described — a card used by mistake on a store order, which you paid for, explained, and apologized for — the substance of what was reported was accurate, and a claim generally cannot get off the ground where the plaintiff cannot show the statement was false.

Utah also recognizes a qualified privilege covering employer communications about an employee and the circumstances of a departure (Wayment v. Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc., 2005 UT 25, 116 P.3d 271). A qualified privilege is not absolute — it can be defeated where the statement was made for an improper purpose rather than an honest one — and the fact that the call was unsolicited rather than a response to a reference check is something a court could weigh. But an unsolicited call does not by itself strip the privilege away.

Where a claim like this sometimes has life is in the specifics. If your former employer went past the true facts — describing the incident as deliberate theft rather than a mistake, saying you were prosecuted, or adding other incidents that did not happen — that particular false statement could be actionable even though the general subject was true. The exact words used matter far more than the fact that the call happened at all.

What you can do 1. Ask your new employer what specifically was said, and whether they are willing to put a short written summary of the call in writing. 2. Write out your own account of the incident — the accidental use of the card, your explanation, the repayment, the apology — with dates. 3. Note whether your new employer took any action after the call, such as discipline, a rescinded offer, or a change in role. 4. Look for any separation agreement or handbook language from the old job addressing references or confidentiality, since a contract term can create rights that defamation law does not. 5. Bring the exact words reported to you to a Utah attorney, who can assess whether anything said crossed from a truthful reference into a false or improperly motivated statement.

Time limits: Utah allows one year from the date a defamatory statement is published to bring a claim (Utah Code § 78B-2-302(4)), and that window is unforgiving. Have a Utah attorney review your specific dates now rather than working out the deadline on your own.