Real-life MMD: Should I give former colleague an undeserved reference?

Owain_Moneysaver

kevanf1 wrote: »

It's worth knowing that a referee could be sued for giving a bad reference

A referee can be sued for giving an untrue, inaccurate or misleading reference.

An honest reference is not a bad reference.

Owain_Moneysaver

portlandboy wrote: »

Does that cover letters? I thought it was for computer info only

It covers all personal data, whether paper, computer, audio or video, etc.

msv

You could by inspired by this apocryphal reference given by the tutor of a lazy student: "you will indeed be fortunate to get this man to work for you".

anniey

Start your own business, recruit some employees, then you will have your answer.

brian8_2

I think it's a bit of a shame on people who have said no.
Given her difficult circumstances in these difficult times - which you seem to care about and any person with any measure of compassion ought to - I'd give her a neutral reference at least. That way you are not being dishonest and neither are you scuppering her chances of finding work and alleviating her situation.
If things don't work out again, then you've done all you can and nothing more, and your conscience should be clear.

System

I would say sorry and advise that as she messed up in the past, that you could not give her a reference as it will certainly harm your reputation if your boss employs her on a reference that you have given, and she messes up again.
You have to be brutally honest here.

Brian_Steele

If you are not authorised or should not really do work references, then politely refuse. If you can, then do a factual reference - dates, duties etc. only - and say you cannot give any more information as you were not the person's manager.

You do not have to give a reference, but if you do and it is in any way fabricated, the new employer could take action against you. You owe them a duty of care to be entirely truthful, so do NOT make anything up.

Lastly, never give verbal/telephone references. You may think you can get away with being economical with the truth, but by the same token so can the new employer and if there is no record of what you said, they can claim all they like against you later and you cannot disprove it.

luciandan

If this person is a friend, I'd think more carefully about your duty of care to her.

Does she know she did a bad job? Did you tell her why you were unhappy? Have you considered that perhaps your expectations were unrealistic? Giving this feedback to her directly before you say yes will no doubt be extremely useful to her (and maybe to you) for her future work and enable her to consider what she might do differently next time. It will probably also give you a fairer basis on which to write an accurate reference, concentrating on the positive aspects of her work / attitude, or help her to understand why you've declined the request.

41_and_i_know_it

I think and I could be wrong because I'm human, that you are not allowed/supposed to supply a bad reference. If I am wrong, I'm sorry and in that case this is my view.
Why did she screw up the last job? Was it because of her ill husband, what I mean is, genuine reasons or was she just taking the Michael.
She obviously does not value your friendship because she wants you to compromise your integrity and is just using you to get a job. If she was serious the first time she wouldn't have screwed up and if it was for genuine reasons as aforementioned if she had spoken to her employer about it I'm sure they would have thought before entertaining the tribunals that come with unfair dismissal.
If she asks you, say I am sorry but I think someone such as a previous employer would be able to supply a more useful reference, and add that if she needs a non-working personality/friendship reference when she reaches the next round hopefully you can fill them in on aspects of her personality when she is outside work, as you wouldn't want to waste a work reference by being vague about things you are not sure about. If it were me, I'd probable fall for the sob story though, still a soft touch but not when it comes to money lol.

Torry_Quine

41_and_i_know_it wrote: »

I think and I could be wrong because I'm human, that you are not allowed/supposed to supply a bad reference. If I am wrong, I'm sorry and in that case this is my view.
Why did she screw up the last job? Was it because of her ill husband, what I mean is, genuine reasons or was she just taking the Michael.
She obviously does not value your friendship because she wants you to compromise your integrity and is just using you to get a job. If she was serious the first time she wouldn't have screwed up and if it was for genuine reasons as aforementioned if she had spoken to her employer about it I'm sure they would have thought before entertaining the tribunals that come with unfair dismissal.
If she asks you, say I am sorry but I think someone such as a previous employer would be able to supply a more useful reference, and add that if she needs a non-working personality/friendship reference when she reaches the next round hopefully you can fill them in on aspects of her personality when she is outside work, as you wouldn't want to waste a work reference by being vague about things you are not sure about. If it were me, I'd probable fall for the sob story though, still a soft touch but not when it comes to money lol.

Its a myth that you can't give a 'bad' reference. You can't give an inaccurate reference which means that as long as what you say is true then a 'bad' reference is fine.