What are the legal requirements when providing references, what are we obliged to do?

There is strictly speaking no legal obligation on an employer to provide a reference for an employee or ex-employee and employers are therefore generally entitled to refuse to provide a reference.

There are however some limited exceptions to this general rule, such as:

1. Discrimination:
Failure to provide a reference because of one of the protected characteristics will entitle an employee to bring a claim for discrimination. The protection against discrimination extends to employees who are subjected to discriminatory acts which take place after the employment has ended.

2. Victimisation:
Where the employee (or ex-employee) has previously brought discrimination proceedings against the