what are the implications of giving a bad reference to a former employee?

[BECCAASK]

My friend has her own business and recently had to sack a memeber of staff for dishonesty/stealing/selling goods on the side. She has now received a reference request for this person asking specific questions about trustworthiness etc. She doesn't want someone else to have the bad experience she had but also she has heard that you can't write a bad reference for someone. What should she do with this reference request?

[WoWo]

I don't think there is any specific laws about giving bad references as many people think, but anything you write must be fair and accurate (mainly because the person could sue)

For example if somebody was constantly late, unless you dealt with that in a formal way i.e. warnings etc it wouldn't be fair to raise it in a reference.

Did your friend go through a formal process or report the matter to the police, if so she could mention that in a reference. Either way I don't think it would be a problem for her to say she is unwilling (not unable but unwilling) to give a reference, that might hopefully put people off.

[tell-me-more]

A reference ought to be a positive statement about the person, so as Wowo says, the correct thing to do is to state that she is not willing to give a reference. That in itself would speak volumes to me.

[naz_nomad]

Write something like '' This person has been removed from my employment, and I am unable to provide a positive reference for them at this time''.

It'll be down to the sacked employee to explain why.

[Suzy~Q]

Write an honest reference, without too much detail and state that you would not employ this person again. She could also phone the company and perhaps give an 'off the record' verbal reference.

[antiguru]

Firstly, she is under no obligation to respond to the reference request. Secondly, if she sacked the person using a fair process she is perfectly at liberty to refer to it in a reference if she wishes.

My advice would be to ignore the pro-forma sent by the prospective employer and send a letter on headed paper saying that that the employee was dismissed for gross misconduct and she would prefer not to comment further.

Hope this helps.