Defamation of Character

Well it depends. And btw, its defamation, not deformation. Certin details they can, others they cant.

 

Well, the reason they fired you, is ok to discuss. The fact that they saw it as preventable is ok. The "details" that caused your current to terminate may not be. If you really think that its the case, you need specifics. I.e. the name of who told, what and when it was told, and proof that this information was both privileged and the cause of termination. Not that simple....

 

Ya all your potential employers need to know about your driving. So it's fine they did that.

 

Thrown out in court is irrelevant. The carrier has the right to make whatever determination they want about an incident. Sounds like the incident in question may have been the cause for your departure from the prior employer?

It makes no sense for a carrier to "make stuff up" or exaggerate facts but I suppose it can happen. But carriers sharing information to other carriers regarding the work history of a prior employee is nothing new.

How do you propose to substantiate the notion "your character was defamed"? Do you have a copy of the response letter (employment verification) or a recording of the phone conversation? Or are you just basing this on the possibility they may have been more or less truthful with their response, and it caused you to lose your most recent job?

Carriers have LOTS of leeway to share and exchange information to other carriers in the name of safety and sensible hiring practices. And they still get burned all the time due to one party dropping the ball, and the problem reoccurs, to be discovered in a multiple fatality crash investigation, later.

 

Just because the citation resulting from the accident was thrown out doesn't mean your former employer can't still deem the accident preventable.

As for personal information being shared, if you are talking about company policy violations, drug and alcohol violations, attendance and other discipline issues that speak to your abilities to sagely drive and/or your mental health then yes, your former employer can, and has an obligation to, disclose those to any future prospective employer(s). The character background investigation the is mandated by the FMCSA regulations exceeds a typical pre-employment background check in other industries, and is permitted by law to do so.