information on reference issues

[paul rogerson]

Hello

I have recently been offered a position with a public transport agency in the uk, and i have had to provide them with two references one from a previous employer and another from a person who has known me for over 5 years.

I was due to commence my training with the company on the 31th of october and today i have recieved a letter from the comany stating that due to references from a previous employer they are unable to progress with the employment.

I have contacted the company asking them for more information on this matter to which they were unable to comply with my request therefore i have asked for a copy of the reference that they have recieved.

My question is once i recieve this reference and it turns out to be a bad reference what are my options, would i beable to take this any further.

And also is it illegal in england to give an exemployee a bad reference, as my not being able to continue the employment has left me in major financial difficulties to the point of having court proceedings taking due to not being able to pay my debts.

Please can i have as much information as possible as i just dont know what im going to do.

Thankyou for your time.

[Richard]

Hi Paul,

I've got this from a site called http://www.got-the-boot.com.

"Job Reference

"An employer is under no legal obligation to give a former employee a job reference at all. However, if they do give a reference, they are under a legal duty to give an accurate reference. If an employer gives an inaccurate or negligent job reference, the employee can sue their former employer to recover damages. This claim is brought in the County Court NOT the Employment Tribunal. The former employee must have suffered loss ie. they failed to get a job because of the bad reference and lose the income that job would have provided. "

That's all well and good until you think "how does one go about proving that it was the reference that was the sole reason for not getting the job?" In your case you have a letter indicating that it was the reference but I'm sure many companies would not like to provide the damning testimony that would ultimately involve another company getting fined, even if they were competitors. It's just not cricket.

[Katja144]

And of course, a bad reference may come about for a number of reasons. One of my jobs, my till suddenly started being off very often in a short space of time, but I'm still certain it wasn't my fault (as I'd never had a problem with it before). Yet that's still a bad reference--strike one: I'm bad at money handling.

Next job, my coworkers and I made up a list of concerns we had about the workplace and our boss (ever dramatic) viewed it as an attack on her (I believe the words she used were "lynch" and "lambaste"). Bad reference--strike two: I'm a troublemaker.

The one after that, they were convinced I was doing less work than I was for some reason. Bad reference--strike three: I'm a slacker.

To all of these employers, who make up the majority of my employment history, they think they have a legitimate reason to give me a bad reference so technically, it's not illegal for them to do so. All a prospective employer will hear is "bad reference" and not bother to ask me for an explanation--even if they did, my explanation would at the very least require me to insinuate that my former employer is lying, and at the most, badmouth them.

I'm guessing that any employer who gives a reference that you're a bad employee will have a valid reason for it, even if they have to invent one, even if it can be explained away once the other side is heard (but who's going to ask, and would you really want to explain anyway?). If the reason sounds legit, then they'll take it and that's it for your legal recourse.

[Richard]

Were you to have been UK based the onus would have been on the (ex-) employer to provide an accurate reference. This is where the problem sets in. What they see as accurate (ie factual), you may perceive to be a bad reference. Most responsible companies shy away from providing a reference that would be out and out detrimental to someone's prospects of employment although the lack of detail and enthusiasm in some references is often taken as code by hirers to mean "caveat emptor." It's such a tricky subject.