Okay, here is the deal...  I have left my previous employer with
notice for another position.  The new position (after 6 weeks) was not
at all what I expected and I am currently seeking new employment.  I
know this does not reflect positively on myself as a prospective
employee and on an employment application I lied and said that I am
still employed with my previous employer.  I was offered a new
position and they need to do a background check.  They asked if I gave
permission to contact my "current" employer and I stated no.  My
question is, Can they find out if I am no longer employed there
without contacting them?

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Clarification of Question by cincy315-ga on 19 Sep 2005 12:59 PDT

Easier said than done.  I've been on other interviews and I know
because I took another position and so quickly want to leave, that
they are afraid I will do the same to them and have not offered me the
position because of it.  If it was as easy as just explaining myself,
there would be no problem.  Thanks for the advice though and I agree,
if only it worked that way in the real world.

If you had told your prospective employer what you just told the rest
of the universe, you would not have a problem.  People do things for a
variety of legitimate reasons.

By withholding the truth, you raise suspicions that you are trying to
hide something.

They really cant find out without contacting them.

Have you tried asking to verify employment via check stub or W-2?

Do keep in mind that lying on your job application can come back to
haunt you later. Some employers have a policy of terminating employees
for falsifying their job applications, and that policy may be enforced
many years after the fact. A friend of mine was recently promoted
because the previous occupant of the job had been terminated for
having lied on her job application. The job application incident had
occurred in the 1980s, but the employer had a zero-tolerance policy
with no time limitation, and when the truth came to light (as truth
has a tendency to do), the axe fell.