Manager requesting to see all references before being given - is this right?

[NovemberAli]

My DP works for a local authority and is applying for a couple of other jobs. He has asked two unit managers who work above him to act as referees for his applications.

One has said he will but apparently the department manager has said that he must read/ approve all references before they go out. Is he entitled to do this?

I was under they impression it was between you and the referee, essentially a private document.

Does anyone know the facts on this?

In my previous job I had to write references and they had to be seen by HR, if for whatever reason you didn't want to go down that route you could do a personal rather than employment reference, which had to be done using your home address/private email address etc

It's common in our practice for the manager to have to proof read a reference before it being sent, I think it's more to do with the no negative rule tbh.

In my company, we can't write references for current employees - HR write them all. It's OK once someone has left, however. I believe it's for legal reasons - employment law is very tricky and the company do it to keep themselves clear of any accidental wrongdoing which might cause problems later.

For NHS jobs, the first reference has to be your current or most recent employer, presumably so you can't just use people who will give you a good one regardless of your actual performance! So sounds fairly standard to me.

The unit managers will be giving a reference about his performance in his current job and are doing so because of the roles they hold, not as private individuals. They will therefore be regarded as acting on behalf of the employer. If there is a problem with the reference they give it could result in legal action against the employer, so they have every right to check references before they are sent.

If the unit managers were giving a personal reference for someone who has never worked for the employer and the reference is not on the employer's headed notepaper it would be different.