SCOPE: All Company-Affiliated Subsidiaries Including, but Not Limited to Hospitals, Ambulatory

SCOPE: All Company-Affiliated Subsidiaries Including, but Not Limited to Hospitals, Ambulatory

DEPARTMENT: Human Resources / POLICY DESCRIPTION: Reference Inquiries
PAGE:1 of 4 / REPLACES POLICY DATED: 9/1/05, 10/1/05, 2/1/06, 7/1/06, 3/1/08
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2009 / REFERENCE NUMBER: HR.OP.028 (formerly HR.205)
SCOPE: All Company-affiliated subsidiaries including, but not limited to hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient imaging centers, physician practices, All About Staffing, service centers,Corporate Departments, Groups, and Divisions (collectively, “Affiliated Employers” and individually, “Affiliated Employer”).
PURPOSE: This policy provides guidance for the administration and dissemination of current and former employee reference information.
POLICY: All Affiliated Employers are to respond to requests to confirm the employment, income or to provide the reason for termination as defined by this policy on an employee.
PROCEDURE:
  1. Confirming Current Employment and/or Income Verification
The Company contracts with a vendor to provide employment verification and wage information to lenders, apartment managers, and other credit agencies to which a current or former employee may have made application. The service enables loan, rental or credit applications to be processed quickly and efficiently with minimal effort.
A current or former employee should sign an authorization allowing the release of information to a lender, apartment manager, or credit agency.
The lender or credit agency will then call 1-900-787-0002 and incur a $20 charge. The lender or credit agency will be given instructions for retrieving employee information.
If the lender or credit agency is unable to dial a 900 number, it must call 1-615-242-8246 to arrange an alternative method of payment.
All government agency requests should be mailed directly to:
Thomas and Thorngren, Inc.
One Vantage Way, Suite A105
P.O. Box 280100
Nashville, TN 37228
  1. Completing Termination and Reference Information
  1. Affiliated Employers must educate all employees that following an employee’s termination of employment, it is the Affiliated Employer’s intent to disclose the reason for termination to an inquirer for a bona fide business reference.
  1. Eligibility for re-hire and future reference information is determined by this reason for termination code.
Eligibility for Re-Hire
Determined by
Lawson System
Reason for Separation
Eligible for Re-Hire / Not Eligible for Re-Hire
Code / Reason / Code / Reason
TV-ABAND / Job Abandonment / TI-DEATH / Death
TI-ABSENT / Absenteeism
TI-CLOSFAC / Closed Facility / The following reasons require consultation with the
TI-DIVEST / Divestiture / Corporate Employment Law Department prior to use:
TI-ENDASSG / End Temp Assignment
TI-MATCH / Mismatch / TI-GMISCON / Gross Misconduct
TI-NUPRN / Non Utilized PRN / TI-MISCOND / Misconduct*
TI-RIF / Reduction in Force / TI-PERFORM / Unsatisfactory Perform
TI-SVCELIM / Svc/Dept Eliminated / TV-SETTLEMENT / Workers Compensation
TV-ADVANCE / Limited Advancement / TV-AGREE / Mutual Agreement
TV BENEFIT / Employee Benefits / *To be used for policy violations
TV-CAREER / Better Career Opportunity
TV-COMMUN / Communication Related
TV-COMMUTE / Commute Related
TV-CONTRACT / Contract Expired
TV-COWKRS / Co-Workers
TV-EEINPUT / Limited Employee Input
TV-FAIRTX / Inconsist Treat of EE
TV-FAMILY / Family Circumstances
TV-HEALTH / Health Reasons
TV-JOBSEC / Job Security
TI-LICENSE / Inactive License
TV-MAXLOA / Exhausted LOA
TV-MGMT / Supv/Mgmt
TV-MILITARY / Military
TV-MORALE / Morale
TV-NOSHOW / No Show
TV-NVRSTRT / Never Started
TV-OVRWKD / Overworked
TV-RECOGN / Recognition
TV-REFUSE / Refuse Assignment
TV-RELO / Relocation (non-HCA)
TV-RELOHCA / Relocation (HCA)
TV-RESIDEN / Completed Residency
TV-RETIRE / Retirement
TV-SALARY / Salary
TV-SCHOOL / Returning to School
TV-STANDRD / Unacceptable Standards
TV-TOOEASY / Unchallenging Work
TV-TRAIN / Insufficient Training
TV-UNKNOWN / Unknown Reason
TV-WKCOND / Work Conditions
TV-WKSCH / Work Schedule
Care should be given in coding terminations in these categories, due to the restriction guidelines that will be applied. Good business practice, appropriate documentation, approval and legal consultation must also support any termination decision based on one of these reasons.
Gross misconduct- code should be restricted to those behaviors or actions that are generally considered to be a violation of a community standard that would be widely considered unacceptable. Examples may include: violation of state or federal criminal statutes, violence or threat of violence, harassment, etc.
Misconduct/Policy violation- while these violations may not be generally considered “community standards,” they may be considered serious violations by the Affiliated Employer. Generally, employees new to the Affiliated Employer are made aware of these critical expectations upon employment via orientation, employee handbooks, or published policy guidelines. Depending on the circumstances of the violation, a first or repeated occurrence may result in termination. Examples may include: falsification of documentation, breech of confidentiality; rudeness to customers; violation of ethics or compliance guidelines, etc.
Unsatisfactory performance- this action is a result of following appropriate performance improvement efforts/management counseling. Failing performance generally includes behaviors which do not meet minimal performance expectations after an employee has demonstrated or been “checked-off” as competent to perform to standards.
Violation of drug policy- this policy has been specifically segregated from other policies due to the unique nature of our business to provide patient care. These policies are specifically spelled out and are intended to be strictly adhered to by all Affiliated Employers.
  1. Affiliated Employers must assignreason for termination codesbased upon a complete understanding of the facts available. Reason for termination codes must not be negotiated to permit an employee to avoid being declared ineligible for re-hire.
  1. Some terminations coded as not eligible for re-hire requires a Human Resources Department consultation with the Corporate Employment Law Department (615-344-1891) prior to system entry and must be approved by the Affiliated Employer CEO or Corporate Department Head.
  1. If an employee’s reason for termination is coded as not eligible for re-hire, appropriate disclosures must be made to the relevant licensing board(s).
  1. Providing Former Employee Reference Information
  1. Affiliated Employers may refer a business reference inquirer to TNT Reference Check at (866) 722-5888.
  1. TNT Reference Check will respond to a bona fide business reference inquirer as follows:
If a former employee’s reason for termination is mapped to eligible for re-hire, the inquirer will have access to that information and the process ends.
If a former employee’s reason for termination is mapped to not eligible for re-hire, the inquirer will have access to that information and may end the process or request further information.
If inquirer requests further information, TNT Reference Check will notify the Affiliated Employer via email with a letter attached to print and send to the inquireron the Affiliated Employer’s letterhead disclosing the former employee’s reason for termination.
The Affiliated Employer may elaborate only for the reasons indicatedafter consulting with the Corporate Employment Law Department.

11/2008