Nursery World - Childcare Counsel - employment references

Hannah Belton, director of Morgan La Roche, looks at providing and obtaining employment references

With the various claim risks involved in providing inaccurate or misleading references, it is advisable that references are both provided for former employees and obtained for new recruits.

What do I include in a reference?

When providing a reference, you must take reasonable care to ensure that the information contained is true, accurate and fair. You must also be mindful of not drafting the reference maliciously or negligently and it should not contain any defamatory statements. If, however, the individual regularly turned up late, for example, and you have evidence of this, then this can be included.

What happens if it is inaccurate?

You run the risk of a negligence claim to recover damages for lost earnings (if they can demonstrate that the reference cost them the job, and not, for example, their inability to do the job).

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