Dear Colleagues,
Assembly Bill (AB) 1905 was recently signed into California state law and is effective January 1, 2025. The law restricts any administrators and supervisors from providing official letters of recommendation for employees who are respondents in a sexual harassment complaint. The University is required to adopt a written policy regarding official letters of recommendation, among other requirements, as a condition of receiving state funding.
The Office of the President has provided Interim Letter of Recommendation Guidance for Academic Appointees. As noted in the Interim Letter of Recommendation Guidance for Academic Appointees, academic appointees may continue to provide personal references and personal letters of recommendation without determining whether the employee requesting the letter of recommendation is a respondent in a sexual harassment complaint.
Personal references or letters of recommendation that are not official may be provided using University letterhead or via a University issued email address, when the reference or letter clearly indicates the recommendation is of a personal viewpoint and not representing the viewpoint of the University should include the following statement:
“UC Irvine policy now requires a distinction between official and personal letters of recommendation. This letter represents my personal perspective not that of the University of California.”
This language will need to be included in all personal letters of reference, such as those you might supply for a current or former student or postdoctoral scholar or if the recommendation about the student includes commentary about their performance as an employee (e.g., as a Graduate Student Researcher).
Academic appointees, including administrators and supervisors, may provide letters that are not considered an official letter of recommendation:
- Letters that reflect personal observations and evaluation of a peer colleague’s academic qualifications of scholarly and instructional merits (i.e., letters for academic review files).
- Letters of recommendation for current and former students about their academic performance for the purposes of applying for employment or non-employment opportunities, such as education programs, scholarships, and awards.
Systemwide Academic Personnel is preparing revisions to APM – 036 Employment to incorporate the interim guidance into policy.
If you have any questions or believe you need to write an official letter of recommendation, please email acadpers@uci.edu.
Sincerely, Gillian R. Hayes
Vice Provost for Academic Personnel
Robert A. and Barbara L. Kleist Professor of Informatics