The truth is that there are very people on this forum who know the first thing about what stands up in a court of law and what does not - that includes me. Again, I am a little wary of commenting on this type of thing as there is a significant amount of pertinent fact missing. My own personal experience is that whenever I have left an employer I have worked hard and reliably for them until the moment I left and never had one ounce of trouble from any of them. To walk out the door with bonds owing and with bad grace is extremely unwise. As I said earlier, I am not sure it is legal to withhold references of fact (i.e. this guy worked here from date X to date Y etc) with a view to preventing future employment. Also, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander - if the company in question start to do this, then they will find themselves on the receiving end of such practices in the fullness of time. My own view is that spoiling practices like this, whatever the provocation from idiot pilots, are not in anyone's interests and should be avoided.