Former employer refuses to release employment records

OOIDA, give them a call.

 

Is he involved with HireRight or TheJobSite.com? If so, he may think he is being smart by only releasing your info through them so he doesn't have to verify anything. These employers shouldn't use this as an excuse not to consider you since there is nothing stopping them from doing background checks and checking your license for reportable incidents. Do you have any pay stubs or W2s? Those are verification, too.

 

OOida won't help ,,no law says they have to give any info on former drivers,,show pay roll receipts, driving record and personal refferences but if company will not hire you find an other company,,

 

If he is not in the trucking business anymore(as you stated, only a broker)then he has no legal(FMCSA) obligation to give out the info.

 

It is up to the prospective employer to verify the information you gave them. Previous employers can refuse to verify, legally.

From fmsca part 392.23

(2) The investigation may consist of personal interviews, telephone interviews, letters, or any other method for investigating that the carrier deems appropriate. Each motor carrier must make a written record with respect to each previous employer contacted, or good faith efforts to do so. The record must include the previous employer's name and address, the date the previous employer was contacted, or the attempts made, and the information received about the driver from the previous employer. Failures to contact a previous employer, or of them to provide the required safety performance history information, must be documented. The record must be maintained pursuant to § 391.53.

 

TLeaHeart has it correct, your former employer does not have to verify anything and future employers can hire you without the verification, if the choose to do so. The new company is just using the failure to provide verification as an excuse, they can take other proof from you regarding your experience and still be fully FMCSA compliant.

 

Show copies of all your old W-2 forms, along with copies of your payroll stubs, from the company that you had worked for.

If you have any copies of any other records, such as your job reviews or evaluations, present that to the potential employer that you are applying with for the job you want.

 

Sounds to me like either the HR person doesn't know what he is doing, or for whatever reason, (minority?) doesn't want to hire you. If it is a large company, perhaps you could talk to someone a little higher up the food chain. If it is a small company, then maybe you should take this as a warning that the outfit isn't worth working for.
I never particularly minded jumping through some hoops to get a job, but to have a prospective employer either be ignorant of what he should know, or lie to me raised too many red flags.
There are other companies out their. Keep looking.