Is it illegal to give a bad reference?

Consigliere
Joined
12 Jun 2004
Posts
151,030
Location
SW17
Speaking to some friends online about a guy who got sacked because his ex employer gave his current employer a bad reference when it wasn't requested.

Conversation went on about it being illegal...so is it illegal to give a bad reference? :confused:
 
SideWinder said:
Speaking to some friends online about a guy who got sacked because his ex employer gave his current employer a bad reference when it wasn't requested.

Conversation went on about it being illegal...so is it illegal to give a bad reference? :confused:

Dont know.

Most employers would only give a reference like so.

First name, last name, position, employed to and from.

Anything else is just an opinion.

Example.

I could write a really nice reference saying X is a really nice person and I would recomend for a job because of Y(anything other than the facts is subjective) and therefore a risk.

After X gets the job he comes to work with a mini gun and kills everyone, who's liable? (god ive thought about that in my head too many times)
 
LizardKing said:
Yes its illegal, but off the record its not, but it shouldnt affect his employment as it wasnt requested

no it's not. However most companies don't as they can be sued and it's a night mare. Basically anything they write they have to be able to back up. Or at least thats what I was told. So most just leave bad things out to protect themselves.
 
as far as i know, you cant post negative stuff unless asked a specific question, ie timekeeping - poor , you either have to refuse the reference which would lead to questions being asked why (then you can state) or post what positive qualities you can.
 
Technically it would be libel, but that's the only law it would fall foul of I can think of. And Libel is a civil offence and has to go through the civil courts. It might well be a sackable offence though, as no company would want the bad publicity associated with the supply of a reference with lies in it.


M
 
you can put whatever you want (work related), but you need to be aware that it can be disputed and you will need to back up what you say.
 
Morba said:
you can put whatever you want (work related), but you need to be aware that it can be disputed and you will need to back up what you say.

Theres the problem though to give that information away to a 3rd party, data protection.

The accepted norm is name, position and date range of employment and thats all.

Never heard had it any other way myself.
 
Last edited:
ChemicalKicks said:
Theres the problem though to give that information away to a 3rd party, data protection.

The accepted norm is name, position and date range of employment and thats all.


every company I've got a reference off. I've had to give them permission, to send anything in a reference due to data protection. They wont even say If I worked there with out my permission. It's a pain in the rear. Seeing as most also want a signature. It does my nut in.
 
AcidHell2 said:
every company I've got a reference off. I've had to give them permission, to send anything in a reference due to data protection. They wont even say If I worked there with out my permission. It's a pain in the rear. Seeing as most also want a signature. It does my nut in.

They've never asked for permission for to give my reference with the information I stated was given but that may be due to a slight difference in employment law across the water.:)
 
Generally if a company has a bad reference to give, they generally decline to give a reference.Well this is what i have done in the past.
 
It's not illegal - though it might be negligent or libellous if it was untrue and prevented him getting the job.

If it's a perfectly factual statement of what he was like, then he should quit complaining and be a better employee.
 
ChemicalKicks said:
Do you work for recruitment, HR. Or have you been on the recieving end?

Im not HR or recruitment, but i have hired people in the past, and i have been a referee for people that have worked with/for me.
 
mleh said:
It's not illegal - though it might be negligent or libellous if it was untrue and prevented him getting the job.

If it's a perfectly factual statement of what he was like, then he should quit complaining and be a better employee.

It may be true but its always subjective. The statutory requirment is as I've already posted. Law.

EDIT: It may well be different in the rest of the UK
 
You've got to be real careful when giving a reference. Good or bad. We were desparate to get rid of someone a couple of years ago and got asked for a reference from their prospective employer. We would have loved to have given them a glowing report but can't because as soon as we give an opinion the other party can rely on it. Hence coded references such as AcidHell2 refers to.

In my particular sector most of the employers know each other well enough to simply pick up the phone for an off the record chat. Very few are stupid enough to put their current employer down as a reference.
 
My company had an employee who was more qualified than me. I don't know how he managed it, because he was quite simply the most irresponsible tool I've ever met. He really was incapable, and generally took the proverbial by taking time off for really petty, self inflicted ailments. He got banned from driving for DUI TWICE (he was only 24 at the time)!

After an extended probation and various extra help/advice from the director, he decided to leave. My company director didn't want to bad mouth him just incase there were repercussions, so he simply refused to give a reference. The guy somehow did get another job, but I don't know what happened to him in the end...
 
Ok this has come up several times before and i've answered it before but people keep on asking so i'm going to put this in Bold.

IT'S LEGAL TO GIVE A BAD REFERENCE IN THE UK. HOWEVER YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO BACK THIS UP WITH DATES AND EXAMPLES OF THE POOR BEHAVIOUR OF THE PERSON YOU ARE GIVING THE BAD REFERENCE OF. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO PROVE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT A PERSON YOU LEAVE YOURSELF AND THE COMPANY OPEN TO LEGAL ACTION. THIS HAS LED TO MANY EMPLOYERS NOT GIVING BAD REFERENCES DUE TO THE POTENTIAL LEGAL IMPLICATIONS AND THERFORE MERELY GIVING A NEUTRAL/GOOD REFERENCE. THIS IN TURN HAS LED TO PEOPLE TO MISINTERPRET THAT IT IS ILLEGAL TO GIVE A BAD REFERENCE, ITS NOT.
 
Back
Top Bottom