---
id: mech.reference_check_discrepancy_or_regulatory_ineligibility
type: mechanism
title: "Reference Check Discrepancy or Regulatory Ineligibility"
lang: en
registry: 1.0.0
canonical: https://hoba.work/mechanisms/mech.reference_check_discrepancy_or_regulatory_ineligibility
json: https://hoba.work/api/v1/mechanisms/mech.reference_check_discrepancy_or_regulatory_ineligibility.json
---

# Reference Check Discrepancy or Regulatory Ineligibility

A third-party check returns employment dates it could not verify, a degree the registrar has not confirmed, or a prior engagement flagged as a conflict of interest.

> **On the canonical path** — [Checks that are proportionate and answerable](https://hoba.work/process#proc.the_path_as_it_is_supposed_to_run-verification)
>
> Only the checks the role actually requires. Where a third-party record disagrees with what the candidate said, the discrepancy is put to the candidate before it decides anything.
>
> This entry is one of the ways that commitment stops being kept.

## At a glance

- Actor: candidate
- Nature: rule
- Visibility: observable
- Agency zone: candidate
- Honest baseline
- Evidence: proven

## What it looks like

Composite excerpts, written to be typical rather than copied. No particular message, company or person is quoted here.

**Where the check disagreed with the record** — *reconstruction*

```
> The background provider returned a mismatch on employment dates for one role: our vendor has March 2019 – June 2021, your application states January 2019 – August 2021.
  We are required to pause the offer while this is reconciled. If you have a payslip or contract covering those months, that resolves it.
```

*What to notice* A resolvable discrepancy in a third-party record, with a named document that closes it. This is one of the few mechanisms with a direct, evidenced remedy.

## From each side

The same entry from inside each position that meets it: what reaches them, what it means from there, and what happens next given what they control.

### Candidate

- **What reaches them:** An offer placed on hold and a named field in dispute: dates on one role, a degree the registrar has not confirmed, a prior engagement flagged as a conflict.
- **What it means from there:** A third-party record and their own record disagree. Which one is wrong is answerable, and the document that answers it is either in hand or obtainable.
- **What happens next:** Produces the payslip, contract or transcript covering the disputed months, and from here on states dates as the payroll record holds them rather than as remembered.

### Recruiter

- **What reaches them:** A vendor result marked for review, naming the field and the two values. The underlying records sit with the provider, not in the ATS.
- **What it means from there:** The start date is at risk until the file closes, and the result does not say which side of the mismatch is the error.
- **What happens next:** Pauses onboarding, asks the candidate for the document that reconciles the field, and keeps the wording to what the check returned.

### Employer policy

- **What reaches them:** The check result against the standard this layer wrote: which findings a document can reconcile, and which end the process regardless of explanation.
- **What it means from there:** One rule applied the same way to every hire is the defensible position. An exception made once is a precedent that has to be defended later.
- **What happens next:** Holds the offer until the file closes, and fixes how much of the reason may be stated — which is what determines whether the candidate is told the field or told nothing.

## What this observation does NOT establish

- An administrative mismatch in dates is distinct from fraudulent misrepresentation on a CV.

## Related entries

- operates at — [bar.reference_background_verification](https://hoba.work/barriers/bar.reference_background_verification) — Reference & Background Verification
- emits — [obs.offer_rescinded_or_delayed_due_to_internal_freeze](https://hoba.work/observations/obs.offer_rescinded_or_delayed_due_to_internal_freeze) — Offer rescinded or delayed due to internal freeze
- emits — [obs.generic_closer_alignment_rejection_template](https://hoba.work/observations/obs.generic_closer_alignment_rejection_template) — Generic "closer alignment" rejection template

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