An applicant responds to a job advertised in the newspaper. He meets the qualifications specified in the ad and goes to fill out an application. Upon completion of the application he is told that applicants would be called back for interviews once the district manager came in the following week. As the applicant departs the building, his former employer happens to be entering into the building and inquires of the applicant "What are you doing here?". The applicant informs his former employer he is applying for a job.

Is it slander if the former employer tells the company not to hire the applicant for whatever reason and is it discrimination if the company chooses to not call the applicant in for an interview based solely on the comments made by the former employer even tho the applicant met all the qualifications specified in the ad? The applicant stated on his application that he had left his former employer due to "irreconcilable differences".

Depending on EXACTLY what the former employer said, it may or may not be slander. If all the employer says is, don't hire this guy, that is NOT slander. For a slander claim to stand up, the employer must have made FALSE statements about the applicant. "He stole from me" is a false statement. "I thought he did a lousy job when he worked for me" is not a false statement - it is an opinion.

Regardless of the answer to number one, it is not illegal discrimination if the prospective employer decides not to hire the applicant based on the employer's statement.