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Employment references: legal checklist for requesting and providing references, covering accuracy, discrimination, defamation, qualified privilege, regulatory references and disclaimers

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This checklist surveys many of the typical issues that arise when requesting or supplying an employment reference, commonly encountered in practice. For more detailed guidance on references generally, see Practice Note: References. For a template letter of reference from an employer to a prospective new employer concerning a present or former employee, see Precedent: Letter—employee reference.

Requesting references

  • It is standard practice for an employer to provide a reference for an employee or ex-employee almost as a matter of routine, unless there are clear and legitimate reasons for not doing so in the circumstances, and a departure is unusual.
  • Verify whether references are needed before employment starts—they usually will be—and therefore any offer letter should include wording that the offer is conditional upon, and subject to, receipt of references satisfactory to the employer. This statement must be given to the employee before they accept the employment, so that it becomes an express term of the contract...
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Web page updated on 20/05/2026

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