Help Needed - Not in employment anymore

DME1960

Hi
new around here and really need some of your advice/help,
i will keep this short--
around 4 years ago i joined a bus company, and my acceptance i told them that i was a single mother with a disabled son, whom needed hospital treatments around 3- 4 times a year, they said sure no problems and gave me the job offer.
well around 1 year into my new carrier as a bus driver, one of the female management team took a disliking to me, and she made me feel that she did not like me, this did not bother me and i carried on my everyday duties,
in the 3rd year of my employment, i injured my knee while on duty, due to the bus door being broken, i was taken in to hospital and was told that my knee was fractured and that i could not drive until my knee was better.
so i was off work for around 4 months, (my employer decided that the injury was my own fault and did not pay me any sick pay, which i am currently seeking legal advice through our unions solicitors)
(Getting to the real problem) during this period i applied for a Job at a different bus company and got an interview.
The Interview went well and i was told there was a six month waiting list for new drivers, so i went back to my current employer and resumed work.......
On the 10th jan 2010 i had a phone call from my prospective employer and was told that there was a job opening and i had a medical booked in,
so on my day off (13th jan 2010) i attended my medical at my prospective employer and passed... Then at the end of my medical i was told by my prospective employer that the 25th jan would be my start date and that i should resign from my current job so i would have given them enough notice before my start date.
so me being me i wrote my letter of resignation and worked my notice...(all feeling well and excited)
Then on the 19th (6 days before i was due to start work)
my prospective employer writes me an official letter stating that i could not work for them due to a bad reference from my current employer....
Now i am left with no job , a disabled son and mortgage to pay !!!
Where do i stand, i am feeling really depressed now,
any help would be greatly appreciated

ceridwen

Sorry to hear that.

As its down to the actions of your first employer that you cant take up the job with your prospective employer (ie that bad reference) - is there any way you can get the first employer to fulfil the moral obligation they have created for themselves (ie of keeping you in your first job)??

I'm guessing its a faint hope - and the first job has gone and you have already asked them for your job back and they have refused? - but just checking that possibility out...

Re that knee injury - well...they have just given you all the more reason to bring a claim against them for that - so certainly get on and do that...

For right this minute (assuming the first employer wont give you your job back) - then you need to ensure that there wont be any benefit disqualification. The DWP can make UP TO 6 months disqualification from benefit because of the person concerned having resigned from a job. So - you need to provide yourself with what proof you can that you didnt "wilfully" resign so to say - you only resigned because you "knew" you were about to start this other job and the prospective employer had told you you had to resign (ie it wasnt "your" doing that you had put in that resignation).

So:
- look out any letter you have from the prospective new employer in which they tell you to resign and/or offer you the job
- keep the letter from prospective employer saying the only reason you havent started your new job with them is because of the bad reference from first employer
- have a copy of a letter from first employer refusing to give you your job back with them (assuming they wont do so). If you dont have a letter like that - then give them a letter (keeping a copy for yourself) officially requesting your job back and with a deadline date in it for them to have replied to you by (say 2 weeks time). (You will be able to prove to the DWP that you HAVE asked for your old job back).

With all 3 things I list above - then I would have thought that would be sufficient proof for the DWP that you havent just upped and resigned from a job of yourself IYSWIM and, hopefully, they will commence paying benefit immediately without any disqualification - so you have some income to keep yourself going whilst you look for another job.

Good luck in getting another job.

planning_ahead_2

Was the knee injury recorded in the accident book at work? If it was, and all the details regarding the faulty door were listed then it's not for your employer to 'decide it was your fault'.

[STRIKE]I am guessing you are not in a union - but if you are contact your union rep and ask for advice about taking a claim.[/STRIKE] - Apologies - just re-read it and I see the union solicitors are helping you with a claim. If the union have passed it to their solicitors then they must be fairly confident you have a valid claim.

Regarding the bad reference - employers are not obliged to give references but if they do then they must be honest and have to be careful what they say - in reality they cannot give a 'bad' references, but an honest reference can be devastating to future job prospects.

Under the data protection act you can ask the new employer (who didn't give you the job) to provide a copy of references they received about you. Once you have the references you may find they are not really bad at all, as it is most likely that they also received verbal references (which is much more difficult to deal with).

I would definitely start by requesting copies of references as you need to know what they are saying about you because it's going to cause problems for future job applications as well.

I would also talk to your union about the reference issue and see what advice they can give you. You pay union fees and provided you have a good local union rep they are awesome when it comes to support.

Horace

Also contact your union for help from their welfare section too and say that you are now unemployed through no fault of your own and get your subs reduced. Keep on at your union re. the first employer.

Apolonation

Geez what is it with people quitting their jobs before they have a written job offer lately in this thread?

pinkshoes

Have you tried grovelling to the new employer? You have nothing to lose... Perhaps you could arrange to go in and discuss it with them?

passatrider

Apolonation wrote: »

Geez what is it with people quitting their jobs before they have a written job offer lately in this thread?

Not very constructive for the OP now though is it?

DME1960

sorry guys for the delay in getting back to, i have been very ill due to this
thanks every one for their inputs it has helped me keep focus in this hard time for me and my son.
Yes i have a letter of Job offer in writing from my perspective employer,
i have also written off for a copy of my reference from them, and they replied that they need consent from my previous employer before they can disclose the document .
I have also contacted my union (unite) and they said same thing can't really get the ball rolling until i have a copy of the reference... (so just waiting for that , BTW can my previous employer refuse consent for my perspective employer to disclose the reference and if so where do i stand then?)
this is really driving me mad, there are only 3 bus companies in my area and need to get this sorted out before i can apply for the last one,,,,,
I am focusing all my energy on getting employed as a bus driver again rather than taking any one to court, the only reason why i went to the Union about the Bus door and my Knee was due that they refused to pay me any sick while i was on sick....

JamieT1977

DME1960 wrote: »

BTW can my previous employer refuse consent for my perspective employer to disclose the reference and if so where do i stand then?)

Think under under the Data Protection Act you are entitled to see anything on file/written about you.

terra_ferma

JamieT1977 wrote: »

Think under under the Data Protection Act you are entitled to see anything on file/written about you.

It's not as simple as that:

Q: I want a copy of my employment references. How do I get them?
To request a copy of your references you need to make the request to the employer the references were sent to. You should make the request in writing as a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act. They will then consider if any exemptions apply and if they can release this information to you.
If you make the request to the employer responsible for providing the reference it is unlikely that you will get a copy, as they are not obliged to provide this under the Data Protection Act.
http://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/faqs/data_protection_for_the_public.aspx#f77A88237-4CA4-421E-87AC-119793AC4C67


Also look here:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/references_v1.0_final.pdf