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Comment by chrysoprace | Hacker News Reader

I have never heard of not allowing references. Is that a US thing?

While I don't love providing references, given they are such a standard part of the employment process (at least here in Australia), I can't see how a company could disallow providing character references. That would be a big red flag if I discovered that after starting to work somewhere.

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In the company I worked for, we were strictly prohibited from saying anything other than “name, rank, and serial number” (date of arrival, date of departure, position).

It was a legal liability issue. I’m told it’s pretty much de rigueur, these days.

One of the nice things, after leaving, was finally being able to give good references for former employees, for whom I really wanted to give glowing references.

> “name, rank, and serial number”

That's what you give if captured as a prisoner of war.

I know. It was a figure of speech. Should have known better than to try.

Sorry about that, Chief (also a figure of speech, but a bit more obscure).

Happens in Europe too. I think it’s a liability issue, not allowing the employee to speak in the name of the company. So the guidance is “tell the reference seeker to contact the HR department” and they’ll eventually reply that “this person worked here as <job title> between <time period>”.

That makes more sense. That's still a reference I guess. I was more confused about straight up denying somebody a reference, that would immediately make tenure at a company worth less.

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