# Has anyone ever given a negative job reference to a former employee? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584 "2014-03-26T04:25:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/21 "2014-03-26T14:30:20Z")
Thanks to all the posters who mentioned the ‘damning with faint praise’ route. I will definitely do this in future. While there were no repercussions on me or my area for the negative job reference I gave, legal or otherwise, there are other options for me when this situation arises. Which it will 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/22 "2014-03-26T14:40:14Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Just because a lot of smaller businesses, or franchise/department managers sometimes do give a negative review to a new employer does not make it a good idea. It’s an absolute minefield that can lead to enormous settlements. > [@Athabasca](#): > > the company decided to do away with performance reviews in favour of continuous learning and improvement:rolleyes: > > \ > > At least I tell myself that so I don’t feel so bad that such a terrible team player is still working for the same company I am. > [@Athabasca](#): > > because of the HR policy, she could not be fired, only moved around to where she could cause the least damage. WOW!!! Seems like a lot of pussy footing around. Your HR leaders need to be fired. I work for a Fortune 25 company with about 100,000 employees world wide. As long as you document the poor performance and failure to meet expectations, and that your reasons for dismissal are not founded in any discriminatory basis, the company should be protected. Sure, any disgruntled former employee can sue, but if there is documentation, their chance of prevailing is very small. Being successful in the marketplace is difficult enough without having to carry so much dead weight among its personnel. We regularly evaluate our people and those that have trouble meeting minimum expectations are let go. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/23 "2014-03-26T14:41:45Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > The idea that asking someone, referred to you by the person you already want to appoint, whether they are any good, has to be the very definition of confirmation bias. This is interesting. I have done loads of recruitment and interviewing, always working hand in hand with HR of course. A candidate could give a stellar interview, but be torn to shreds when the reference checks were done. Candidates lie or misrepresent themselves. HR always leaves it up to me to decide whether I want to hire this person. And in only one case, I decided to ignore the warning, and I ended up hiring one of my best employees ever. It’s not an exact science. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/24 "2014-03-26T14:46:25Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > WOW!!! Seems like a lot of pussy footing around. Your HR leaders need to be fired. I work for a Fortune 25 company with about 100,000 employees world wide. As long as you document the poor performance and failure to meet expectations, and that your reasons for dismissal are not founded in any discriminatory basis, the company should be protected. Sure, any disgruntled former employee can sue, but if there is documentation, their chance of prevailing is very small. Being successful in the marketplace is difficult enough without having to carry so much dead weight among its personnel. We regularly evaluate our people and those that have trouble meeting minimum expectations are let go. Sigh. Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/25 "2014-03-26T14:49:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Let your tone and the most neutral statement of employment facts carry your message. “He used to work here. Now, he doesn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/26 "2014-03-26T14:52:39Z")
I try always to give honest references of former employees when requested, but the poor ones almost never seem to put me down as a reference. For outstanding employees, I furnish them a written letter of recommendation, with an open invitation for the reader to contact me with any further questions. When I’m the one calling for references, I try to ask the most cut-and-dry questions possible, e.g.: - Would this person be rehirable right now, according to your company’s policies? - (Approximately) how many times was this person absent from work in the last six months? - (Approximately) how many times was this person late to work in the last six months? - Was this person on any sort of formal probation or warning at the time he or she left? Not only does it cut opinion out as much as possible, but you can often gather a lot of the opinion part anyway, just by how the person on the line sounds when answering these questions. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584/27 "2014-03-26T15:01:42Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > “He used to work here. Now, he doesn’t.” > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > I try always to give honest references of former employees when requested, but the poor ones almost never seem to put me down as a reference. For outstanding employees, I furnish them a written letter of recommendation, with an open invitation for the reader to contact me with any further questions. > > When I’m the one calling for references, I try to ask the most cut-and-dry questions possible, e.g.: > > - Would this person be rehirable right now, according to your company’s policies? > - (Approximately) how many times was this person absent from work in the last six months? > - (Approximately) how many times was this person late to work in the last six months? > - Was this person on any sort of formal probation or warning at the time he or she left? > > Not only does it cut opinion out as much as possible, but you can often gather a lot of the opinion part anyway, just by how the person on the line sounds when answering these questions. Bricker, I get what you and AB say, but the reference check questionnaire is very long. It asks at least one to two questions on every aspect of the position the candidate was interviewed for, and each aspect refers to specific job-related requirements, such as ability to do research,manage projects, assign priorities. Each question in the interview is open-ended, so no ‘yes or no’ or factual type of answers, unless it is for the boilerplate type of questions you mentioned, onecentstamp. These questions are on every form. In all I think it’s a good process. Just not on the performance evaluation side. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-given-a-negative-job-reference-to-a-former-employee/684584.md?page=1)