The questions that Susan raises are good ones (which should surprise Gargoyle enormously), the one about the manhole is especially apt.

For those of you who have never been involved in HR/personnel situations, you should understand that it is the responsibility of a prospective employer to check educational credentials, references, and employment history. At minimum, the prospective employer wants to talk to the supervisor at the current or last job.

The thing is that that for reasons of legal liability and confidentiality, the current employer often will say very little, other than to confirm that the person worked for them.

For instance, if the new employer had called me, I would not have been able to say anything about the problem we had with her, or with its resolution. If asked, I would have been able to give the positions she held, the amount of time she held the positions, and the job descriptions. After that, the prospective employer has to figure things out for themselves.

The thing is that the prospective employer never called our offices at all. In efffect, that is choosing to walk toward an open manhole without even giving anyone a chance to tell you what is ahead.

Just so you all understand, there is no "acceptable" way to convey this information if the prospective employer doesn't take the initiative to find it on their own. They chose not to do this for reasons of their own, and if anything hits the fan, their choice will be questioned.

People may ask why they didn't contact the references, but they won't ask why the references didn't contact them.

I guess that I assumed that part of admitting she did something wrong and accepting a transferred to a job she was qualified was the implication that she'd never do it again. I feel like I gave her the benefit of the doubt and used it as an opportunity to be dishonest again.

I realize that people have tended to think that I should go ahead and do what I feel like doing, but in the process of agreeing with me, no one has come up a way for me to come forward without looking like I am an outsider who is meddling.

Remember that this is is happening in a world of policies and procedures, and practically speaking, being ethically or morally right is less important than knowing the procedure and having the policy to back it up.