# If Your Employer Refuses to Verify Your Employment (Don't Need Answer Fast)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 2, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689 "2011-11-02T23:32:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689/1 "2011-11-02T23:32:32Z")
DISCLAIMERS: You are not my lawyer, I am not your client, blah blah blah. And for the record, I really truly have no iron in this fire; I’m strictly just curious.
Anyway, say you need your employment verified for some reason (like, you’re applying for a mortgage). If your employer just straight-up _refuses_ to give _anyone_ even the most bare bones of information about your employment (say, even whether or not you’re employed there at all), do you have any recourse in the courts?
Again, just curious, and this isn’t actually happening to me (I swear).
---
### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689/2 "2011-11-03T00:08:20Z")
Can you provide your last pay stub?
Do you work at a small place? Most big places are used to doing this.
You could also get your boss to write a letter on company letterhead.
---
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689/3 "2011-11-03T00:12:47Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> Do you work at a small place? Most big places are used to doing this.
Again, this doesn’t affect me directly; it’s strictly a curiosity thing.
However, a somewhat-related anecdote: Many years ago I did temp work at a job screening applicants for truck-driving jobs. My job was to verify employment. You would truly not believe the hostility and/or stonewalling I got from some places when I asked to verify employment, even _after_ I faxed releases signed by the applicants. One company basically told me they would not tell me, or anyone else, anything, _ever_, about any employee, past or present, release or no release. We were unable to hire the applicant simply because of his old employer’s obstinance.
---
### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689/4 "2011-11-03T00:21:18Z")
Don’t think there is any legal requirement that companies verify employment of current or past employees. It’s just expected that they will do that as common courtesy. I know when I got a new job this year they called my last place of employment where I had been laid off. Don’t know if they called any employers prior to that , I was there 15 years.
There are places who won’t give anything beyond the dates the person worked because they are afraid of being sued if they give anything else.
---
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689/5 "2011-11-03T00:38:37Z")
My employer is a state university. Employee titles and salary are considered public information. We verify employment through our HR office. I think they only give very basic info Name, title and dept.
But we have to comply with legitimate FOIA requests. Can’t skirt the law.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-your-employer-refuses-to-verify-your-employment-dont-need-answer-fast/601689/6 "2011-11-03T00:54:31Z")
I haven’t received an actual paystub in years. Our paychecks are deposited directly, and we can go onto an ADP website to view the details that would be on the paystub. I suppose that I could print out a page from that ADP website. I could also provide a copy of my W2, which I’ve got in PDF format on my computer.