Job offered but then withdrawn due to references

Uncertain

rupee99 wrote: »

The OP's wife cannot pursue a "grievance" within the meaning of employment law because no employer/employee relationship existed between her and the Sheltered Housing Association.

Her remedy, if no agreement can be reached, is to bring a court action, although I would have to say that her chances of success are quite remote and it is likely to be quite expensive.

Quite....

A claim against her current employers if the reference is untrue

or

The intended new employer if their rejection of the reference is unreasonable.

Both difficult and unlikely I fear unless something very wrong has happened.

viktory

Anihilator wrote: »

Sorry but you should never resign without a solid start date and confirmed references.
The company can do this.

I second that. I only ever hand n my notice once I have received a formal, written offer of employment - NOT subject to references.

Raksha

This happened to a friend of mine - similar company too.......... The only difference was that she couldn't provide them will a traceable employment record (she ran her own business abroad for several months) She even had the written offer, but the concensus of opinion on here was all she could do was sue them for breech of contract, which wouldn't actually be a great benefit

Apolonation

Ouch not nice. Easy to say wait for official letter, but in the heat of things when you have notices to work etc I can see how this can be overlooked.

Can she not speak to the manager frankly and tell them the situation. Also that she has contacted the references and they have confirmed and are happy to reassert in person that the references they provided were positive, suggest perhaps there has been a misunderstanding? A long shot but this would do a number of things.

1. Let them know you know the ref's were sound.
2. Give them a way out without having to admit they were pulling a fast one.
3. Allow them to see the reality of their decision and their impact on your wife who is facing unemployment now as a result.
4. Uncover some defect in reference which will at least allow you to understand what happened.

If this fails. I'd suggest coming clean with the current employer and asking them for the resignation back. It won't be well received I'm sure, but - hey we are all human at the end of the day and they may empathise, by that stage you would have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Good luck

blckbrd

A verbal, conditional job offer is worth the paper it's written on frankly :cool:.

While the referees may well have sung your wife's praises, are there any health/sickness/disciplinary issues that would have been included on the reference?

aquila2009

I really do sympathize.

A very similar thing happened to me at the end of the 09.

On 30 December 2009, attended a job interview.

The Agency, told me, I got the job.

Signed the paper work, sent back to Job Agency and that should be that.

The next day, 31 Dec. 2009, I get a telephone call. A credit reference check has to be made before I can start work on the Monday. *4th January*

But this was not completed because the company that completes these checks was closed and therefore, no credit reference, no job!

My only question in all of this is why did not the agency do these credit checks in the first place?

On Thursday 20th Jan. I obtained advice from the CAB, who tell me, all though I have all the correspondence and even though I signed paper work (I say paper work instead of contract because according to CAB what I have is not a contract of work - this document is actually an online form, upon which I have to press submit button)

So according to english law ... I don't have a case - to put it mildly. so much for english law .... who ever said the law is an !!! -- no truer words are spoken.

What is there to learn from this -- here is the victim - who has no rights!

Except, these Employment Agencies are the scum and provide no value whatsoever.

And I do truly sympathize with any of you going through the same ordeal.

getmore4less

Apolonation wrote: »

Ouch not nice. Easy to say wait for official letter, but in the heat of things when you have notices to work etc I can see how this can be overlooked.

A mistake you only make once.

Most companies ask when you can start or how much notice you need to give

The answer is notice period after the unconditional offer.

This is also a good time to negotiate salary(and keep looking) between the offer and the unconditional offer when you need to commit.

woody01

Uncertain wrote: »

Quite....

A claim against her current employers if the reference is untrue

or

The intended new employer if their rejection of the reference is unreasonable.

Both difficult and unlikely I fear unless something very wrong has happened.

Neither of those would stand up anywhere legally though.
The never has been an employer/employee relationship so there is no case to answer.

As for the references, it doesnt matter what they say as long as it is factual.

Morally its bad but legally its too bad.

terra_ferma

Don't you think this may have something to do with your wife not getting the job.....?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=795135&highlight=

Even if she had not given them as referees prospective employers can contact any of the former employers to get full employment history/references. As she would have been working with vulnerable people their checks are very stringent.

rupee99

woody01 wrote: »

Neither of those would stand up anywhere legally though.
The never has been an employer/employee relationship so there is no case to answer.

As for the references, it doesnt matter what they say as long as it is factual.

Morally its bad but legally its too bad.

Both of these cases do "stand up" legally.

There does not have to be an employee/employer relationship if the OP's wife can establish a case that the prospective employer has been unreasonable or perverse in the rejection of the references. That would be under normal contract law and she would have a claim for damages against them.

If the references were untrue then she would have a claim for defamation against the person who gave it/them.

I specifically stated that neither claim was under employment law, and as Uncertain was responding to my post, by implication so did s/he.