Blacklisting Employees

(a)If any person, agent, company, corporation, public official, or governmental agency, after having discharged any employee from his or its service, shall prevent or attempt to prevent by word or writing of any kind of untrue statement, or, in any manner, conspires or contrives, by correspondence or otherwise by means of an untrue statement, to prevent, such discharged employee from obtaining employment with any other person, company, corporation or governmental agency, such person, agent, corporation or public official is guilty of a petty misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each violation; and such person, agent, company, corporation, elected or appointed public official, or governmental agency shall be liable in civil/penal damages to such discharged person, to be recovered by civil action. This COL11/30/2022 CH. 70 MISCELLANEOUS CRIMES Section shall not be construed as prohibiting any person or agent of any company or corporation from furnishing in writing, upon request, to any other person, company or corporation to whom such discharged person or employee has applied for employment, a truthful statement of the reason for such discharge.

(b)An employer, employee or other person, by threats of injury, intimidation or force, alone or in combination with others, may not prevent a person from entering into, continuing in or leaving the employment of any person, firm, governmental office/agency or corporation. Any person who violates this paragraph is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each violation; and such person, agent, company, corporation, elected or appointed public official, governmental agency shall be liable in civil/penal damages to such discharged person, to be recovered by civil action.

(c)An employer who in good faith provides information requested by a prospective employer about the reason for termination of a former employee or about the job performance, professional conduct or evaluation of a current or former employee is immune from civil liability for the disclosure or the consequences of providing the information. There is a presumption of good faith if either:

(1)The employer employs less than one hundred

(100)employees and provides only the information authorized by this Subsection.

(2)The employer employs at least one hundred

(100)employees and has a regular practice in Guam of providing information requested by a prospective employer about the reason for termination of a former employee or about the job performance, professional conduct or evaluation of a current or former employee.

(d)The presumption of good faith under Subsection

(c)of this Section is rebuttable by showing that the employer disclosed the information with actual malice or with intent to mislead. This Subsection and Subsection

(c)of this Section do not alter any privileges that exist under common law. For the purposes of this COL11/30/2022 CH. 70 MISCELLANEOUS CRIMES Subsection, “actual malice” means knowledge that the information was false or was provided with reckless disregard of its truth or falsity.

(e)Communications concerning employees or prospective employees that are made by an employer or prospective employer, or by a labor organization, to a government body or agency and that are required by law or that are furnished pursuant to written rules or policies of the government body or agency are privileged.

(f)An employer, including the government of Guam and its agencies, a labor organization or an individual is not civilly liable for privileged communications made pursuant to Subsection

(e)of this Section.

(g)In response to a request by another bank, savings and loan association, credit union, escrow agent, commercial mortgage banker, mortgage banker or mortgage broker it is not unlawful for a bank, a savings and loan association, a credit union, an escrow agent, a commercial mortgage banker, a mortgage banker or a mortgage broker to provide a written employment reference that advises of the applicant's involvement in any theft, embezzlement, misappropriation or other defalcation that has been reported to federal authorities pursuant to federal banking guidelines or reported to the department of financial institutions. In order for the immunity provided in Subsection

(h)of this Section to apply, a copy of the written employment reference must be sent by the institution providing the reference to the last known address of the applicant in question.

(h)No bank, savings and loan association, credit union, escrow agent, commercial mortgage banker, mortgage banker or mortgage broker shall be civilly liable for providing an employment reference unless the information provided is false and the bank, savings and loan association, credit union, escrow agent, commercial mortgage banker, mortgage banker or mortgage broker providing the false information does so with knowledge and malice.

(i)A court shall award court costs, attorney fees and other related expenses to any party that prevails in any civil proceeding in which a violation of this Section is alleged. COL11/30/2022 CH. 70 MISCELLANEOUS CRIMES