A friend just hired a guy, despite only receiving 2 of 3 of his references, the third one arrived too late to affect his decsion and is godawful (which is dodgy in and of itself, as I always thought it was a no-no to give a negative reference). It was long rambling screed condemning the guys character.
The guy seems fine, both professionally and personally, and assuming he doesn’t turn out to be a train wreck in the fullness of time, my friend was considering letting him know about that reference (at least mentioning he may not want to use that particular referee again). I would have thought that broke some kind of implied (or very really and explicit) confidentiality concerning revealing the contents of a reference to its subject.
Does such a thing exist ? FWIW This was in the UK in an academia-related field.
I am in the US and not in an academic field, and all I’ve got is this opinion. But there is no such implied confidentiality from a legal standpoint, only the judgement and discretion of those involved. AFAIK confidentiality is only enforceable with a written agreement, or for client/attorney privilege, or clergy.
When I applied for a graduate program I was required to provide references send in a sealed, signed envelope directly from the person giving the reference. This was so that the school could ensure honest references, without the person writing the reference worrying that anything negative might get back to me. However, in the case you describe, there was no offer of confidentiality to ensure candor, and apparently there was no lack of candor.
I would not hesitate to share the information, because the person has already been hired. I would have a long talk with the new hire about why he provided this person as a reference, and why the reference came back negative. If this were pre-hire it would give me pause, either because the reference was bad in and of itself, or the candidate lacked the judgement to pick someone who would give him a good reference.
If I made a decision not to hire him, then the question is more difficult.
BTW the judgement/discretion thing also goes for the other side. In the US employers have generally refused to give references on the chance that someone might sue them if they were turned down for a job due to the reference.