However reference checking can backfire. Laws like
the fair credit repoting act of 1970 increase the likelihood that rejected applicants will successfully demand access to the background information that was compiled they may then bring suit against both the source of that information and the recruiting. ( In one case a man was awarded s56000 after being turned down for a job because among other things he was called a character by a former employer.) From a practical point of view it is not always easy for a reference to prove that the bad reference given
the applicant was warranted. The rejected applicant thus thus has various levarious remedies including
suing the reference for defamation of character. Such a possibility is often enough to cause former employers to limit their bad ( or any) comments