As mentioned, it may be different in Canada. However, here in the U.S. I’ve never had someone give their current boss as a reference. Mostly because the current boss doesn’t know they’re looking for another job. HR will always ask an applicant if it’s okay to contact their current boss once they receive an offer. However, they’ve never actually contacted them. So if you’re still working for this guy, no one will bat an eye if you don’t give his name as a reference.
Usually people will give three references that we only check once we have decided to give them an offer. Again as mentioned, the reference is mostly just a disaster check: we’ve already decided we want the person; we just want to make sure we don’t hear someone on the other end of the phone scream in terror when we mention the applicant’s name.
Most of our applicants will give the names of a co worker they’ve had a lot of experience working with, the HR person at their current company (who verifies employment, position, and salary), and someone who as worked with them in a supervisory capacity. That last one can be difficult for someone who has worked for the same boss for a while. In those cases, rather than giving a really outdated reference (e.g. a boss they had 5 years ago), they’ll give someone who was a team leader on one of their projects.
Your most recent boss’s reputation shouldn’t reflect badly on you. If they have to speak to your current boss, give them the names of several other people who have good reputations (in addition to your boss). Those people should be enough to confirm that you aren’t tarnished by his mistakes.
Technically, we’re not really supposed to give out references for our co workers. However, as long as the person never reported to you, management doesn’t really care all that much, so we still do it. If that person has reported to you in the past, you’re only allowed to tell the caller the person’s title and dates of employment. We’re not even allowed to say why the person left or give out salary information. If the caller asks about those things, we need to refer them to HR.
ladybug, we’ve had applicants in your situation. Pretty much we ask them for whatever references they can provide. Some give us the names of any former co workers they can (even if they didn’t work with them all that long) and also names of people outside of work who can give us information about their work ethic and character (like someone who worked with them on volunteer projects, etc.) One guy gave us the name of his rowing coach, and that was fine too. They also give us the name of the HR person who verifies the policy and the vital stats (employment dates, position, salary). It’s pretty common, so we understand.
I will add that the hiring managers never call the references. Only HR is allowed to do that. What the references say isn’t really a factor in our decision process except as a disaster check anyway.