We received a reference checklist on a former employee from a potential new employer. This employee was only working part time, and due to the seasonality of our employment, he just faded away at the end of winter. Due to his inflexibility, we chose to not rehire him the next season.

Flash forward a few years when we received the reference checklist, and we checked the box "Unsatisfactory Performance" because it was as close to "Not eligible for rehire" as we could get. He states in a letter addressed to us, "...I am writing to you because I have never received a bad reference in my life...and I am not about to accept this one. There are procedures for dealing with employee problems including notifying the employee that there is a problem. Your company did nothing in that regard. I want that reference permanently deleted from my file, and I want a written retraction of that reference."

Correct me if I am wrong, we are within our rights as a employer to base the ability to rehire on subjective factors such as inflexibility without notifying the employee. The label "Unsatisfactory Performance" is potentially where the breakdown is, but do I have to come up with something more than linking the two phrases together to be legally correct?

The former employee has some guts.

Don't even give this yahoo a letter back. You are allowed to view his hire and dismissal as you want.

You are allowed to label his leaving as you wish and provide any potential employers your opinion of his services... including this very interesting letter.

Wouldn't THAT be a fun reference... "and several years after we decided to list him as 'not for rehire' he called us back to threaten us with legal action if we didn't change our opinion of him."

Sounds like a spoiled brat... aren't you glad you DIDN'T rehire him?

You do not have to do a flippin' thing. Let this...idiot...pound sand.

How many other words did you begin to type before you decided upon idiot?

Only one. But I'd chastise any other poster who used it. Since I'd edit someone else's post for use of the word I had in mind, I just did a little pre-editing to save myself some work later. :D