(in New Zealand) can you take someone to court for deliberate giving a false reference?

We are runnnig a small farming business and were looking at employing this person. At that stage, he was following an agricultural course at 'Agricultural NZ';. When I contacted his tutor for a reference, she told me all positive things. After 4 months, this person got arrested by the police for assaulting his partner. Now we have learned, from his tutor, that during the course he showed agressive behaviour. Also that she was aware, that he was told by the courts to find himself a job within a certain time otherwise he had to go to jail. When I asked his tutor before we employed him, if she was aware of any criminal behaviour or dealings with the courts, she said that she was not aware of anything. She admits now that she was lying as a referee but that she was told to do so by her boss because 'Agricultural NZ' wanted to get rid of him. (She has put this in writing for me. Her reference was verbal though) Now our ex-employee is sueing us for unjustified dismissal. (Although he was arrested and bailed 100 km away). I wonder if we can sue his previous tutor or even Agricultural NZ for giving a false reference, because if they had told us the truth, we would have never employed this person.(in New Zealand) can you take someone to court for deliberate giving a false reference?
During the hiring process did you ever ask him if he'd ever been convicted of a crime? Did he sign an employment contract? In it it should stipulate that if you find out he has been convicted of a crime that this may result in instant dismissal. If none of these practices were followed then I'm not altogether sure where you stand %26amp; you should contact an employment lawyer for advice (most will briefly give you free advice over the phone re whether they think you can win or not, try the white pages but beware of the ones that say ';no win no fee'; as they will waste your time getting you to believe you can win even if they know you can't).





It sounds like you could sue Agricultural NZ as long as their employee doesn't back down %26amp; start denying things but suing someone in a civil case costs a small fortune %26amp; may not be worth it.





Read info about employment law on these sites for more advice





www.ers.dol.govt.nz





http://www.justice.govt.nz/employment/ro鈥?/a>