@fesshole In Germany, it's vice versa – employees have a right for an employer's reference when they leave their job, and employers are not allowed to put anything negative into it.

The effect is that there is a catalog of positive phrases that have negative meanings -- classic example is, "they endeavored to meet requirements", which translates as "they never once actually met the requirements". Or, "all colleagues appreciated their warm nature" -- "they had sex with all of them".