Discuss the burden placed on people or organizations contacted as references for job candidates. How do organizations cope with this burden?

Providing information as references for job candidates poses some burden on the people or organizations contacted for the purpose. Part of that burden is the risk of giving information that is seen as too negative or too positive. If the person who is a reference gives negative information, there is a chance the candidate will claim defamation, meaning the person damaged the applicant's reputation by making statements that cannot be proved truthful. At the other extreme, if the person gives a glowing statement about a candidate, and the new employer later learns of misdeeds such as sexual misconduct or workplace violence, the new employer might sue the former employer for misrepresentation. Because such situations occasionally arise, people who give references tend to give as little information as possible. Most organizations have policies that the HR department will handle all requests for references and that they will only verify employment dates and sometimes the employee's final salary. In organizations without such a policy, HR professionals should be careful-and train managers to be careful-to stick to observable, job-related behaviors and to avoid broad opinions that may be misinterpreted.