Liability For False Work References -Think Twice Before Recommending A Work Colleague On LinkedIn

An employer in Switzerland is obliged to write his employee a reference in a manner that he can obtain a new work position. The employer may thereby be liable for any false and overly negative work references that harms the employee's search.

In April 1975, the Swiss Federal Court ruled on a bank director having embezzled a noticeable amount of money from the bank, whereupon the bank dismissed him and issued a certificate of employment attesting that the employee worked to the company's fully satisfaction and recommending him in good faith whilst concealing the embezzlement committed.

Shortly thereafter, the dismissed employee misappropriated at the next job an even larger amount of money and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.