§ 6.4.5.2 QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 6.4.5.2 Qualified Privilege. In the employment context, many communications will probably be found to be subject to a qualified privilege. That privilege likely exists based on both statute and case law.

Arizona law creates and codifies¹¹⁴ a qualified privilege for a former employer to make a communication to a requesting employer, or an agent acting on the former employer's behalf, "concerning a person's education, training, experience, qualifications and job performance." The privilege exists if the information is "to be used for the purpose of evaluating the person for employment."¹¹⁵ Under this statute, the former employer is immune from civil liability unless the information communicated is false and defamatory and is acted on to the harm of the employee by the prospective employer and the communicator knows the information is false or acts with reckless disregard of the information's truth or falsity.¹¹⁶

In one case, a male sued a female employee and their employer for defamation, claiming he had been falsely accused of sexual harassment.¹¹⁷ In...