Solving the Employee Reference Conundrum

January 31, 2008
Speaker: Matthew Finkin, Albert J. Harno and Edward W. Cleary Chair in Law, University of Illinois College of Law
Presented by: Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Conflict & Dispute Resolution (CISCDR)

Summary: Rush McKnight Labor Law Lecture
The reluctance of U.S. employers to give job references for former employees, other than dates of hire and job classification, has been widely remarked upon. Employers face a "prisoner's dilemma" they bear the potential liability of a lawsuit, but derive no benefit from the disclosure. The prevailing solution is to recalibrate the burden of proof in defamation suits brought by former employees against their prior employers who give negative references. Professor Finkin will offer a more aggressive alternative, better to facilitate the distribution of accurate information in the labor market.

Matthew Finkin teaches labor and employment law at the University of Illinois and directs the Program in Comparative Labor and Employment Law and Policy. He has taught law at Southern Methodist University, Duke University, and the University of Michigan. Prof. Finkin has been a Fulbright Professor at Münster University, a German Marshall Fund Lecturer at Konstanz University, and is a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Research Award for internationally acknowledged achievements in the field of labor law. He is author, editor, or co-editor of eight books, including the leading single volume treatise on labor law, Basic Text on Labor Law (2d ed. 2004) with Robert A. Gorman, the leading law school casebook, Labor Law (with Archibald Cox, Derek Bok and Robert Gorman, 14th edition); and Privacy in Employment Law (BNA, 2nd ed., 2003).

Prof. Finkin has also authored numerous scholarly articles on labor and employment law, higher education law, and comparative law. In 1997, he became General Editor of the Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal. As a member of the Commerce Clearing House Panel of Labor Law Experts, he is Senior Editor of the Bureau of National Affairs Series, International Labor & Employment Laws. He was elected Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2004. Prof. Finkin has lectured widely in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and is active as a labor arbitrator. He has been American Association of University Professors General Counsel (1976-78) and Chairman of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (1980-90). Prof. Finkin is a member of the Governing Board of the Institute for Labor Law and Labor Relations in the European Community in Trier, Germany. He received an A.B. degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, an LL.B. from New York University, and an LL.M. from Yale University.

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