Wouldn't accept being employed by the person referred to (7)
I believe the answer is:
refused
'referred to' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'wouldn't accept being employed by the person' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'employed' could be 'used' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employ') and 'used' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ref' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for refused that I've seen before include "Was unwilling to accept" , "Not accepted" , "Declined, rejected" , "turned down appeal" , "Said no (7)" .)