How to Get an Employment Verification Letter From Your Employer, With a Request Email, and What to Do If HR Says No

No agency publishes a required wording for the request, and no law in the sources cited here requires an employer to issue a verification letter. The email below is the format people use: it names the person who needs the document, says what the document must confirm and gives a date.

Subject: Request for employment verification letter - [Your name]

Hello [HR contact name],

I am asking for a letter confirming my employment with [Company name].
It should state my job title ([Job title]), my start date ([Start date])
and whether I work full time or part time. [Optional: I consent to the
letter stating my current rate of pay.]

The letter is for [a rental application / a mortgage application / a
benefits application / a new employer]. It needs to be addressed to
[Recipient name or "To whom it may concern"] and to reach [me / the
recipient at the address or email below] by [date].

Please send it as a signed PDF on company letterhead, or let me know
what the company's process is for verification requests.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Phone] [Personal email]

For a former employee, change the second paragraph to ask for the start and end dates and the last job title. Some employers route all requests to a service: the Equifax guide for employers shows one routing in which the caller “should be directed to” the database⁸. An answer pointing there is covered in the next section.

The Work Number is a database of payroll data supplied by employers or their payroll providers after each pay cycle; a verifier that has a permissible purpose and, for income, the employee’s consent can pull the facts itself⁸. The page for the service says a consumer “triggers a request by signing an application, such as for a loan, lease, new job, or government assistance,” that verifiers “typically need only the applicant’s SSN,” and that results are “generally instant”⁴.

An employee can see what is held: the service’s page says employees can “view your Employment Data Report, freeze your data, or dispute it” and that the report shows which verifiers requested the data “in the past 24 months”⁴. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says the company “provides a free report on request,” and that requesting it does not hurt credit scores⁹. Whether an employer’s payroll reaches the database depends on the employer; no official page says which employers are included. The full walkthrough is on the Work Number report page.

HR can decline to write a letter without breaking any rule in the sources cited here. California’s right is different, and covers records.

Section 226 lets current and former employees inspect or copy their payroll records, and a violation allows $750 recoverable by the employee or the Labor Commissioner². Section 1198.5 lets them inspect and copy records relating to performance or to any grievance concerning the employee; the employer may charge only actual reproduction cost, must comply with only one request per year from a former employee, and must keep personnel records at least three years after termination³. Exceptions include reference letters³. A former employee can inspect where the records are kept or receive mailed copies on paying the postage³. Pay stubs, a payroll record and an offer letter signed under section 432 are documents benefit offices work with: the SNAP rule requires agencies to “accept any reasonable documentary evidence provided by the household”¹⁰.

A written request for those records can be short.

Subject: Written request for payroll and personnel records - [Your name]

Hello [HR contact name],

Under California Labor Code sections 226 and 1198.5, I am requesting
copies of my payroll records and my personnel records, including any
documents I signed relating to obtaining or holding my employment
(Labor Code section 432), for my employment from [Start date] to
[End date, or "the present"].

Please send them to [address or email]. I will pay reasonable copying
costs if there are any.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Date]

Good to know The right is to records, not to a letter. A payroll record shows dates and pay; whether a landlord or lender accepts it in place of a letter is that verifier’s decision.

When no employer can or will answer, the records the employer filed stand in: the IRS wage and income transcript (past ten tax years; it excludes state and local W-2 information) and the Social Security Statement, which “shows your current earnings record and history”⁵⁶. The company-closed page sets out both, with their costs and limits. For mortgages, see employment verification for a mortgage.