sub checkPassword { # no parens () here - why a prototype?

    my ($user,$password) = @_;

    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new(
        $LDAPServerAddress,
        port => '636',
        scheme => 'ldaps'
    ) or die "Can't connect to $LDAPServerAddress via LDAP"; # not ||

    my $result = $ldap->bind(
        $user,
        password => $password
    ) or die "Can't bind!\n"; # $@ is set by eval

    if ($result->code) {
        die $result->error;
    }
    1;
}