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Human Resources: Giving References for a Former Employee

Employers are often called by a former employee's prospective employer for a work reference. Care should be taken in giving work references, especially for a less-than-satisfactory employee.

Some questions and responses are fairly safe:

• Date and term of employment
• whether the position was full-time or part-time
• A job description of the employee
• The salary range

• Require a leaving employee to give you written permission to respond to a reference check (include this in your standard Release agreement, signed at the end of employment)
• Ensure that only authorized people provide employee references (of course, a former employee might still have a friendly colleague provide a good reference)
• Ask that reference check requests be made in writing and in turn respond in writing.
• Keep to job-related comments