It's definitely illegal in the UK.

i dont believe that it is illegal to provide a negative reference in the UK, as long as it is honest, factual, and provided in good faith.

from gov.uk:

>"If you think you’ve been given an unfair or misleading reference, you may be able to claim damages in court. Your previous employer must be able to back up the reference, such as by supplying examples of warning letters.

You must be able to show that:

- it’s misleading or inaccurate

-you ‘suffered a loss’ – for example, the withdrawal of a job offer"

which means, if the reference is not misleading and not inaccurate, a negative reference is ok. other uk-based law firms (from a quick google) agree with this interpretation.

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laserlight an hour ago | parent [-]

Providing a negative reference is totally different than gathering negative references and selling them. The former could be legal while the latter could be illegal.

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john_strinlai 43 minutes ago | parent [-]

for sure!

in my comment, i was speaking more generally than i should have, and that (obviously, in hindsight) caused some confusion between the specific case of the hypothetical company, and the general case of an employer providing a negative reference. my bad -- and it is too late to edit to provide clarification.

	▲	drcongo 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		No problem, I wasn't very clear either! I remember someone I know looking into this in the early 2000s as part of a wider collective thing. It's long enough ago that I can't remember the details but it was definitely less about a poor reference and more about the individuals' being on a list somewhere without having even applied for a job. And come to think of it, it's probably even more illegal now because of GDPR.