How to deal with reference requests

Authors: Hayley Reid and Natasha Urukalovic

Summary

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• Be aware that there is generally no legal obligation to provide a reference, but that there are some exceptions, such as when dealing with regulated financial roles.
• Ensure that anyone providing references on behalf of the organisation is aware of the need to take steps to ensure that the reference is true, accurate and fair.
• Have a written policy on how references should be handled and who within the organisation can provide references.
• If adopting a policy of providing only limited information, stick to that policy for all references.
• Consider how to deal with requests for personal references.
• On receipt of a request for a reference, check whether there is a settlement agreement in place in respect of the individual governing the contents of any reference.
• Check that the individual has consented to the provision of a reference.
• Get explicit consent from the individual if providing sensitive personal data.
• Consider carefully how to deal with negative information such as details of disciplinary issues.
• Include a disclaimer if providing more than a very simple facts-only reference.
• Mark the reference "strictly private and confidential" and "to be opened by the addressee only".
• Ensure that there are record-keeping processes in place to allow for the provision of references on former employees.