What if former companies don't reply to prospective employers?

I've seen this in other industries and after reading many posts about companies shortchanging drivers and WRONGLY screwing up their DAC reports, how does a prospective employer handle it if one's current or former company doesn't respond to inquiries and checks about the driver's performance at that company? Also, when I've applied for jobs in the past (in another industry) I've always checked NO to "Can we contact your current employer" and told them the truth on how I felt ... I did not want my current company to know I was looking for other employment. What happens if the current company gives a poor reference simply because they don't want you leaving or like the aforementioned, refuses to even reply? I see on many truck company applications they don't even ask if they can contact the former truck company as it's a given that they WILL contact them. I've seen some applications that go to former employees asking about character, neatness, image and all kinds of other traits with a grading system of "Excellent, good, fair, average" etc. Seems to me like the margin of error is great. For example, I was reading another thread yesterday about a snot-nosed secretary who answers the phones at one company and fields calls from prospective employees and in the example I'm referring, refused to even speak to the driver about getting hired there. Given the poor working relationship some drivers have with their dispatchers, what about the office snot who nobody likes or gets along with who has the authority to open the mail and forward it (or not) to the proper channels? She could take that inquiry and effectively zero out a good driver looking for work elsewhere. It seems that this potential for abuse is greater than not. How do you drivers handle these situations, especially when all is not rosy at your current job and you're looking for employment elsewhere?

 

I'm lost regarding your response. Are you saying companies are legally bound by law to respond to potential employers checking on employees?