Whilst agreeing with Ian that it is best to be open about references whenever
possible, I am not sure what the position is with regard to references given
by past employers. The normal situation is that a prospective employee quotes
a named person at the past employer and not something like 'The Personnel
Officer'. Therefore, I believe that the reference contain third party
information relating to a living individual and not just the plc. If the
prospective employee quotes two referees then it will be pretty clear which
reference is from which person. Although some wording could be left after the
removal of all that identifies the provider, the results will be pretty
useless. Therefore the best policy is to ask for permission to release the
reference when obtaining it.
Dennis Barrington-Light
[log in to unmask] on 28/04/2000 07:40:39
Please respond to [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
cc: [log in to unmask] (bcc: Dennis
Barrington-Light/REG/Central-Admin)
Subject: Re: References
In a message dated 27/04/2000 17:59:42 GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< I think referees and receivers of references should work on the assumption
that it may well be reasonable to disclose them to the data subject. >>
I agree whole-heartedly.
Please do not forget that the DPA98, when it talks about protecting the
identity of "the other individual" applies only to living individuals which -
in terms of employers giving references - would only protect sole traders and
small partnerships.
Limited companies and PLCs would get no protection whatsoever from the Data
Protection legislation.
If you warn prospective referees that you may not be able to guarantee
anonymity and that they may be asked to validate any claims made (positive or
negative) about the potential recruit, the quality and truthfulness of
references can only improve.
Ian Buckland
MD
Keep IT Legal Ltd
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