With the help of a job reference, employees are assessed for their performance in the company at the end of their employment relationship. The evaluation is based on certain formulations – if the employee is not satisfied with his or her certificate, he or she can lodge an objection with the employer.
In principle, every employee in Germany has the right to have a job reference issued according to Section 630 of the German Civil Code (BGB). It doesn’t matter whether an employee has been employed for many years or “only” worked as a working student or intern – anyone who is at the end of their employment relationship can request a reference from their employer. However, entrepreneurs are not forced to take action automatically. In individual cases, the work reference must therefore be explicitly requested from the employer.
The simple job reference
In principle, a distinction is made between the simple and the qualified job reference. As the Gansel lawyers explain, the date and place of issue, the name of the employee and the place of employment must first be stated in the simple job reference. In addition, according to § 109 of the trade regulations, the simple certificate must contain “at least information on the type and duration of the activity”.
The qualified job reference
According to the legal experts, the qualified job reference is a lot more complex and is therefore usually better suited for future applications. Because instead of just naming the job of the employee, the various tasks of the employee are specifically addressed here. In addition, the employee is usually evaluated for his or her performance and social behavior. The employer often mentions completed further training and initiatives by the employee.
The job reference must be formulated clearly and understandably
In paragraph nine of the trade regulations, requirements are also placed on the content and external form of the certificate. As lawyer Anna Katharina Kastner explains on her website, the certificate must be issued on business paper and contain at least the signature of the higher-ranking superior.
Furthermore, the certificate must be “clear and understandable”. This means that there must be no ambiguous wording in the assessment, and therefore no clauses that are intended to make a statement about the employee other than that which is evident from the wording. This is to ensure that the certificate does not harm employees. According to the HR management system Personio, the General Equal Opportunities Act (AGG) also prevents certain information about the employee from being disclosed in the appraisal. In order to prevent discrimination against employees, no information on “religion, political party or ethnicity” may be given.
Grading is done with clauses
The performance is not graded in the classic way from one to six – nevertheless, entrepreneurs have developed their own language over time in order to be able to better assess the employees for their performance. As the Gansel lawyers explain, the exact wording plays a major role: If an employee has, according to the certificate, “always fulfilled the tasks to the fullest satisfaction”, for example, the employer is very satisfied with the employee’s work. If, on the other hand, the phrase “He fulfilled his tasks to his complete satisfaction” is used in the assessment, the supervisor only rates the performance of his employee with a “satisfactory” according to the experts.
Employees can appeal
If an employee feels that he has been treated unfairly because of his assessment or if there are general, formal or content-related errors in the reference, the employee has the right to have his reference letter corrected. As the job exchange Absolventa explains, it does not matter whether there are only simple spelling mistakes, personal data or work activities are incorrectly recorded in the certificate: In the event of errors, the employee can request the employer to correct the certificate. According to Section 195 BGB, however, this claim expires after three years.
Pauline Breitner / Editor finanzen.net