Work Advice: Keeping confidences, or not

Q: I recently interviewed for a job and was a final candidate. On my application, I checked the box saying not to contact my current employer. When the company emailed me for references and current employer information, I again requested that it not contact my employer. The response was, "We understand your concern and will not contact them."

The company called my manager for a reference anyway. My manager was quite upset, and our relationship has deteriorated. The new company did not offer me the job.

Do I have any legal recourse because the interviewing company contacted my current employer after agreeing not to?

A: "This is the nightmare scenario for any job-seeker, but that does not mean it is legally actionable," says Declan Leonard, managing partner of business law firm Berenzweig Leonard.

Ideally, the interviewers would have waited until they were 99 percent ready to make you an offer and then would have given you a heads-up that they were contacting your boss. No sensible interviewer will hire you without at least a last-minute skeleton check.

Your desire to get back at the interviewing company is understandable but, I think, pointless. Besides, you might be on the short list for its next opening. In the meantime, work on regaining goodwill with your (in my opinion) overly sensitive manager. And consider using headhunters, who Leonard says are better "attuned to the employee's predicament" and need for discretion.

Q: I recently left my administrative job at a law firm. During my exit interview, I was reminded that the confidentiality agreement I had signed when hired prohibits employees from encouraging or soliciting other employees to leave the firm for two years after departing.

My new job is in a consulting field unrelated to law. Former law firm colleagues have reached out to me to inquire about consulting openings; because of the agreement I signed, I did not follow up with them. However, I wonder if I could be found liable for violating this agreement since they are the ones soliciting my help.

A: My gut says your old employer is unlikely to hunt you down just for responding to inquiries. Leonard confirmed it. Because courts often define solicitation as "initiation of contact," his sense is that you wouldn't be considered to have violated the agreement you signed. In his experience, courts are likely to enforce an agreement that "clearly and narrowly protects a company's legitimate business interest" -- for example, prohibiting you from enticing lawyers to jump ship to a direct competitor. But in his opinion, your agreement, which "seems to prohibit any solicitation, even if the employee leaves for an unrelated field," is too broad to likely be enforceable.

• Miller has written for and edited tax publications for 16 years, most recently for the accounting firm KPMG's Washington National Tax office. You can find her on Twitter, @KarlaAtWork.