Human Resource Blog

Performance Appraisals

	Hiring and Staffing
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We want to hire an employee and as a condition of his offer letter he must provide us with his last performance review from his old employer.

Is this legal?

It may be legal, but it’s not a good idea. It will only ensure that you are hiring an employee who is willing to lie, cheat and steal. Most employers consider all business records confidential documents — and an employee performance review is a business record. Your prospective employee has probably signed a statement with the previous employer (such as an employee handbook) that he won’t purloin confidential company documents — which is what you’re asking him to do. So, you are basically saying to this person, “We don’t want to hire you unless you will do something that’s unethical.” If he will snatch confidential documents from his previous employer, he’s likely to do the same to your company. Some companies might sue an employee or his new employer, who urged him to take business records.  

There’s also no way for you to know that the performance review presented is genuine. Many supervisors have access to blank review forms, and it would be very simple for the employee to create a great review for himself. Unless you have spies within the other company, you’d have no way of knowing that it’s not genuine. Few employees would feel bad about lying to an employer who is asking them to do something unethical.

A much better way to check this employee’s previous performance is to ask him for a letter of recommendation from a previous supervisor, or to call and ask about his performance.