Requirements for a service certificate

Upon termination of the employment relationship, an employee is required to be issued a service certificate at their request. At the employee’s request, the employer is also required to issue a so-called interim certificate, in which case the employee is responsible for the costs of this certificate. In the case of labor leasing, the obligation to issue the service certificate generally falls on the provider of the labor. The purpose of the service certificate is to serve as a basis for a new application by the employee and to inform a third party who is considering hiring the certificate holder. The service certificate should provide the reader with an insight into the actual scope of duties of the former employee. To be able to fulfill these duties, certain minimum content and formal requirements apply to a service certificate:

Formal requirements

The service certificate must be issued in writing. Repairs with correction varnish are prohibited. It is also not permissible to include two service certificates on one document, with the first clearly having been subsequently added. According to the case law, this would make it difficult for the employee to obtain a new position. It is also not permissible to subsequently add or improve an inadequate wording on the original document, as this would indicate difficulties between the employer and the employee.

Content requirements

The employer is generally only required to issue a simple service certificate. This must provide information about the type and duration of the service provided, with the employer having to describe the specific activity performed by the employee. The certificate must contain all essential facts that are relevant to the overall assessment of the employee and of interest to a third party. One-time incidents or circumstances that are not characteristic of the employee do not belong in the certificate. The employee has no legal right to be issued a qualified service certificate or to receive commendatory qualifications. The content of a certificate must be complete, objectively correct and true. A "satisfactory certificate" contradicts the duty of truth. Furthermore, neither the choice of words nor the sentence structure or omissions must lead to the third parties forming incorrect ideas about the truth. Since the employer is prohibited from making it difficult for the employee to obtain a new position (prohibition of hindering), the service certificate must not contain negative statements, evaluations, or formulations. For this reason, statements about illnesses or sick leave, the exercise of a works council function, or membership in a trade union are inadmissible. Likewise, the mention of the reason for the termination of the employment relationship is inadmissible. This applies in particular in the case of dismissal. However, the jurisprudence is not uniform; for example, the Arbeits- und Sozialgericht Wien (ASG) has ruled that the mention of the termination method is not a disadvantageous addition. A negative formulation would, according to the case law, for example be: "He carried out the tasks assigned to him with great diligence and interest", because this formulation corresponds to the explanation that the employee made an effort but in the end achieved nothing. The employer is responsible for the facts that underlie the certification and the assessments contained therein. Some collective agreements (e.g. hairdressers, beauticians) contain special provisions regarding service certificates.

Information requirements

Beyond the obligation to provide the service certificate, the employer is required, in the interest of the dismissed employee, to provide information about that employee to those persons with whom the employee is in negotiations to conclude an employment contract. The employer may also, against the will of the dismissed employee, provide information about that employee to those persons who have a legitimate interest in obtaining such information. The employer’s information must also be correct in the interest of providing a truthful certificate in this case.

Claim enforcement by the employee

The employee may appeal the issuance of the service certificate; if the employer refuses to issue the certificate in the form requested by the court despite a judgment requiring it, fines and imprisonment are provided for to enforce the employee’s claim. If the employee loses a new job due to failure to issue the service certificate, he may claim damages for loss of earnings.

For an incorrect assessment of performance to have harmed the employee affected by it, the employee is required to prove and substantiate the damage.

Statute of limitations

The right to issue a service certificate expires pursuant to § 1478 ABGB only after 30 years.

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