With the help of a job reference, employees are assessed for their services in the company when the employment relationship is terminated. The assessment is based on certain formulations – if the employee is not satisfied with his certificate, he can object to the employer.
Basically, every employee in Germany has the right to issue a job reference according to Section 630 of the Civil Code (BGB). It does not matter whether an employee was firmly employed for years or “only” worked as a working student or intern – if you are at the end of your employment relationship, you may request a job reference from the employer. However, entrepreneurs are not forced to automatically become active. In individual cases, the job reference must 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 simple job reference first should be mentioned in the simple job certificate, the name of the employee and the place of employment. In addition, according to § 109 trade regulations, the simple certificate must contain “at least information on the type and duration of the activity”.
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The qualified job reference
According to the right -wing 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 work of the employee, the various tasks of the employee are specifically discussed here. In addition, the employee is usually assessed for his services and social behavior. Often completed further training and initiatives of the employee are also mentioned by the employer.
The job reference must be clearly and understandably formulated
In paragraph nine of the trade regulations, requirements for the content and external form of the certificate are also placed. As lawyer Anna Katharina Kastner explains on her website, the certificate must be issued on business paper and at least contained the signature of the higher supervisor.
Furthermore, the certificate must be “clearly and understandably formulated”. This means that there must be no ambiguous formulations in the assessment, therefore no clauses that one other than the wording should make a statement about the employee. This should 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 is revealed in the assessment. In order to prevent discrimination against employees, no information on “religion, party or ethnicity” may be given.
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Renotion takes place with clauses
The grading of the services does not take place in the classic way from one to six – nevertheless, entrepreneurs have developed their own language over time in order to better assess employees for their services. As the Gansel lawyers explain, the exact wording plays a major role: According to the certificate, an employee, for example, has fulfilled the tasks “always to the fullest satisfaction”, the employer is very satisfied with the work of the employee. If, on the other hand, the wording “he fulfilled his tasks for full satisfaction” is used in the assessment, the supervisor, according to the experts, only evaluates the services of his employee with a “satisfactory”.
Employee may file an appeal
If an employee feels unfairly treated due to his assessment or are general, formal or content errors in the certificate, the employee has the right to correct his job reference. As the Jobbörse Absolventa explains, it does not matter whether there are only simple spelling errors, personal data or work activities in the certificate are false: In the event of errors, the employee can request an improvement in the certificate from the employer. According to paragraph 195 BGB, this claim expires after three years.
Pauline Breitner / Redaktion Finanzen.net
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