Authors: Donovan Cheah (Partner) and
Adryenne Lim (Legal Executive) (Donovan & Ho)
Academic
qualifications and work experience are just one part of the deal in the hiring process.
The other part involves interpersonal skills, personality traits and work
ethics, all of which are qualities that employers have no way of knowing other
than through the recommendations of other people and/or based on the employer’s
own assessment during interviews with prospective employees. In this regard,
references bear considerable weight in the hiring decisions of employers: a bad
reference may in some instances cause someone a job opportunity.
Given
that the potential damage that may flow from a bad reference that was prepared
out of bad faith or without due care, these questions are worth considering:
• To what extent can an employer provide a bad reference?