When there is a new worker coming for an interview, employers often want to make sure the information they hear is true, and decide to turn to the current or previous company of the applicant to request the needed information.
When a person applies for a home mortgage or a car loan, the lender might want to confirm that the potential debtor has a steady income which would be enough to cover monthly payments before the creditor approves the loan.
If you got an employment verification letter request and you don’t know what information would be appropriate to include, read further to get the answers and take a look at the employment letter sample.
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An employment verification letter is used to confirm some information about the prospective candidate for a position. The details about a worker might include their job title and department, salary, employment dates, skills, qualifications, etc.
An employment verification letter enables a hiring company to get to know a potential applicant better and make a more informed decision regarding hiring him or her.
Employment verification letters might be also used by landlords or financial institutions if they want to learn more about an individual renting or acquiring a house.
The only formal requirement for an employment verification form is that the details provided in it should be truthful. Other than that, there are no formal requirements for writing such a letter. It means that it might contain various questions regarding a prospective employee. At the same time, the recipient company is not obliged to respond to such a request.
Even though it is not a formal requirement, there is an unwritten rule that companies do not give away information without the written consent of the employee in question accompanied by their signature.
If you are the one who wants to obtain information about the potential employee, you can turn to the company with a minimal set of questions. Here is an example of a request for verification of employment.
Dear Madam/Sir,
Jack Anderson has applied for the job position of Lead Software Engineer with Microsoft Inc., and he mentioned your company as part of his working experience. We would appreciate it if you could assist us in verifying some information that was listed on Jack Anderson’s CV by answering the following questions:
Thank you in advance for a swift response! Please do not hesitate to contact us in case you have any questions.
Faithfully,
Sarah Parkinson
Human Resources Manager
Microsoft Inc.
Email: sarahparkinson@gmail.com
Telephone number: 860-224-9797
However, if you want to learn more about the personality and skills of the potentials employee, you can extend the list of questions. But note that some businesses won’t provide a broader scope of information in order to protect themselves from possible lawsuits from their current or former employee. This is why those companies will provide only easy-to-verify details such as job title, employment dates, and annual salary.
But you can take a chance and still ask them more questions, for example:
In your employment verification letter, there should also be a line above the list of questions with the name of the employee and the words “…hereby permits this information to be shared” with a spot underneath the statement where the applicant can sign and date. This way, you show that the information you ask for is approved by your current or former employee and increase your chances to get more info about the applicant.
There are a lot of employment verification letter samples on the net, but if you want to get a customized employment letter template, use our online document builder. It will help you get a proper form in less than five minutes!
Check your business policy
The policy in regards to the release of information at your company might require you to fill out your own employment verification forms, not the ones mailed or faxed over. The corporate policy may also restrict you from disclosing certain information. In some cases, such policies might prohibit you from replying to an employment verification letter at all. This should be figured out before you start responding.
Avoid sending any documents
One of the easiest ways to get involved in a lawsuit is to send your current or former employee’s resignation letter, copies of any personal records, or other documents to the requesting company.
Provide facts only
Yes, along with standard questions, you might be asked to provide your company’s opinion on the employee in question. No, you shouldn’t do that even if you are asked to. The thing is that negligent answers might get your company into legal trouble.
When responding to the proof of employment letter, try to avoid showing any opinions, and provide only verifiable information such as working periods, salary/wages, etc. Do not put in any information beyond what the employee requests.
Below, you can see how these recommendations are applied in a sample employment verification letter.
If you want to check whether the letter of verification is legitimate or not, there are certain steps you can take before hiring an individual/approving a home mortgage or a car loan.
Step 1
Check the employer who sent the letter to you. It can be easily done with the Secretary of State’s office database. There, insert the name of the business entity and check whether they are operating.
Step 2
To make sure it was the employer who signed the letter, use the contact provided in the letter to get in touch with them. If the person is not available, ask for a callback or contact someone from the company who can verify the provided information.
Step 3
If you need more proof about the financial stability of the person, you can request several past paychecks from the employer, or ask the person to send the bank statement of several past months.
Alternatively, if the person is self-employed or has been getting payments in cash, you can ask them to see the forms they used to pay federal taxes for the past several years.
There are a few steps to filling out an employment verification letter.
Step 1
Here, there should be personal information about the employer – their name, address, and contact information.
Step 2
Next, include the name of the employee and specify whether they were or were not employed at the requested company. After that, write the date when they started work.
Step 3
In this section, an employer should specify the title of the employee, what working day they have/had (full or part-time), the amount of salary and how often they are/were getting paid, and whether there are/were any bonuses. Along with that, the contacts of the employee have to be added should the requesting company need any further information.
Step 4
The employer should add their signature, name, and business title to make the letter valid.
Sheila Woods
Human Resources Manager
M&Ms Corporation
38 Jefferson Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90003
December 1, 2020
Sarah Parkinson
Human Resources Manager
Microsoft Inc.
52 Aspen Street
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Dear Ms. Parkinson,
This letter is to verify that Jack Anderson was employed at M&Ms Corporation as a Lead Software Engineer from January 5, 2020, to November 1, 2020, with an annual salary of $200,000.
For any additional information regarding Jack, please do not hesitate to contact me at 567-444-1289.
Sincerely,
Sheila Woods
Yes, it is legal as no business is obliged by US laws to give a response to such a letter. The only exception is when the request comes from a federal or state agency.
If you got an employment verification request, don’t put it
as complying with such requests is in everyone’s best interests.
Once again, there is no such requirement in states or federal laws. That means that the company that got an employment verification request might respond within any timeframe.
However, responding within reasonable periods is a common courtesy.
As we have previously mentioned, many businesses would provide only easily checkable details in their response.
Some companies might go further and respond to some of the questions on the list. For example, the question “Would you rehire…?” can result in a cautious response “If qualified.” But such an answer might not reflect a full picture of the potential employee since it might either imply that they were fired because of their incompetence or that their previous employer will hire them as long as they still qualify for the job.
For the requesting company, this answer might be less than professional, but it would be a wise choice to prevent yourself from any legal issues.
An employment verification letter might be considered a regular business letter for a responding company, but for the employee in question, it might be of much more importance. The response might affect a candidate’s housing, insurance, or future career. This is why the answer should be professional:
