On December 13, 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court
(ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1950) provided clarity on the issue of giving
references for former employees. Even after the employment
relationship has ended, the employer and employee must act in
accordance with the principles of being a good employer and a good
employee. For this reason, negative comments about the ex-employee
could be classified as unlawful and lead to liability on the part
of the employer. In this article, we will discuss points to
consider when requesting and providing references, given the case
law.
In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the employer, a bank,
had not acted unlawfully towards its former employee by informing
his new employer, also a bank, of the fact that the employee had
been summarily dismissed and had not acted with integrity. The
former employer had initially notified the Dutch Central Bank
(DNB), the banking regulator, of this matter, which had asked the
bank to inform the new employer.
