Complaint against former emplyer

bluetownbarry

fabio11 wrote: »

Thanks Bluetownbary
But please see the advice given to HR by a lawyer

Under employment and discrimination law, you are obliged to address concerns raised by a former employee, but you don't have to follow the detailed steps of your grievance procedure in the way you would if he or she was still an employee.
Rather, you simply need to respond in writing to the complaint within 28 days, and that is all - unless the person then complains to the Employment Tribunal that there was sex discrimination or harassment. The complainant can do this, because there is no qualifying period for making such claims - unlike the 12-month limit for unfair dismissal claims.

I think you need to take in some of the good advice already given here.

Failing which, ask clear questions based on the advice you want. On your first post, you wanted advice about a bad reference. Now you seem to be alluding to wanting advice on lodging a claim at the ET for constructuve dismissal (I think)?

What are you trying to achieve?

Uncertain

KiKi wrote: »

This is *completely* false, and I wish you'd stop posting this on this forum (as I have seen in several posts from you). Employers can say ANYTHING THEY LIKE in a reference - as long as it's factually correct.

Quite! :mad:

Sadly you are wasting your breath! You have told him, I've told him and many others have told him. You have to wonder what keeps his ears apart!

fabio11

No it is not about constructive dismissal as I have said few times it is very difficult to prove.
The question I am asking is that whether complaining to HR about ref letter is good idea or not. So far all the legal advice I have been given is that if I complaint now then HR will investigate and if it is not in my HR file then they will make sure this never happens again.
But I am worried as my manager has significant political clout in every department of the company so HR will not be neutral or even can make a counter-complaint against me.

Thus my question is whether I should just let it go and avoid him as future referee
OR
As advised by someone
Make the complaint. By not doing so, it makes it sound like its true and your reputation can't get any worse there.

LittleVoice

Uncertain wrote: »

Quite! :mad:

Sadly you are wasting your breath! You have told him, I've told him and many others have told him. You have to wonder what keeps his ears apart!

But we have to keep doing so - to try to prevent others believing it.

Sorry OP - it's off your topic. For your question, I think you have nothing to lose in writing to HR, refuting what the manager has written if it is not true, and asking them to confirm what they will include in any future reference request response. Personally, I wouldn't bother to raise it as a formal grievance - unless they refuse to provide an example of what they will say in future references. My opinion but obviously you make your own decision.

KiKi

fabio11 wrote: »

Thus my question is whether I should just let it go and avoid him as future referee
OR
As advised by someone
Make the complaint. By not doing so, it makes it sound like its true and your reputation can't get any worse there.

I offered you advice on this in my post at the top of the page. If the reference *is* factually incorrect then contest it. If not, let it go.

KiKi

fabio11

Yes the reference IS factually incorrect about my character but as I am saying what is the guarantee that HR will be independent of manager's influence as I seriously doubt it.
Thus my questions
Is there anything having adverse effect on your HR file after you have left job?
Will making complaint leave a mark in my HR file?
If HR conclude that reference is factually CORRECT then will it have severe bad effect on my HR file?
Can an EMPLOYER lodge a complaint agianst former employee conduct who has already left? and if so is there any time limit to do so?
I am worried that my manager can lodge complaints aginst me retrospectively once i filed complaint.

Sorry these are leagal questions but I did lot of search and most of the information is about Employer stopping former emplyees not to reveal trade secrets and nothing more.

Point I am trying to make is that manager has written letter and its not on my HR file so in future I can direct ref request to HR who have my blank file.

KiKi

fabio11 wrote: »

Yes the reference IS factually incorrect about my character but as I am saying what is the guarantee that HR will be independent of manager's influence as I seriously doubt it.

No-one can answer that, as no-one knows the people involved.

Is there anything having adverse effect on your HR file after you have left job?
Will making complaint leave a mark in my HR file? If HR conclude that reference is factually CORRECT then will it have severe bad effect on my HR file?

If you make a complaint it will undoubtedly be recorded, as it should be. But seriously, what do you think happens to your personal 'HR' file?

They don't hand it out to other people or other companies. It doesn't get made public. I'm not sure what 'severe bad effect' you think will happen to your file? It's just a typed up set of documents. No offence, but I doubt anyone will ever look at them again now you've left, unless you ask them to.

Can an EMPLOYER lodge a complaint agianst former employee conduct who has already left? and if so is there any time limit to do so?
I am worried that my manager can lodge complaints aginst me retrospectively once i filed complaint.

No, they can't 'complain' about you. Who are they going to complain to?! You?! No-one owns you!

The only thing they can do is take you as a person to court, to recover losses. Unless you cost the company money by leaving (eg, walking out and thus the company lost a contract), or unless you have broken part of your contract by taking their customers, or sharing information with other companies, they aren't coming after you.

Point I am trying to make is that manager has written letter and its not on my HR file so in future I can direct ref request to HR who have my blank file.

If you want to use HR as a reference instead of your manager, then fine. But again, they can only give factual references. So if you have complained and contested his reference, then it's on file that it's not accurate. HR are unlikely to give a character reference unless they know you. They are more likely to answer simple questions such as dates of employment, salary etc. Be aware, though, that if they are asked questions about your character, they *may* look up your last manager and ask him to answer the questions for them.

TBH, it sounds to me like you're rather panicky and worried about a black mark on your file. Perhaps you should just let it go.

HTH
KiKi

fabio11

Dear All,
Its quite sometime I started this thread.
Thus in the end I decided not to make any formal complaint (though I can still do).
But under freedom of information act I requested all the information kept about me in the company. I got the file yesterday and its very distressing.
There are some serious accusation made against me in the file thoough the name of accuser and time it happened are not mentioned. I am surprised now as these accusition were never mentioned to me during my job nor was I fromally charged for these.
I am not worried about these allegations but I am 200% sure that these are lies, and like some HR person listening thing about me in pub after-work drinks and next day writing things in my HR file.

Can someone please guide me about it, i am worried that these things will stay in my file for rest of my life (which I am sure are pure lies and gossips)

KiKi

fabio11 wrote: »

I am not worried about these allegations but I am 200% sure that these are lies, and like some HR person listening thing about me in pub after-work drinks and next day writing things in my HR file.

?! HR staff can't just 'write something down' and put it in your file. It would have to be recorded as a formal document, either in written meeting notes, a letter of complaint or something similar. Are you truly saying that someone has just scribbled down something on some note paper with no heading, no signature, nothing?

Whilst I can't say what happened in this case (obviously) I seriously doubt someone from HR heard something about you in the pub and thought "ooh, I must dig out that file tomorrow and make a note of this conversation between two people under the influence". Employee files are formal files - they don't contain notes 'guessed' by people from pub conversations. If they do, then I would be very concerned and taking action immediately.

You talk about your 'HR file' as if it's something that's constantly at the top of HR team's concerns! Really, most staff will have better things to do that keep documentation up to date unless requested to do it, or legally required to do it.

Can someone please guide me about it, i am worried that these things will stay in my file for rest of my life (which I am sure are pure lies and gossips)

I mentioned this in an earlier post, and I'm really not trying to sound harsh, here. But really - what do you think will ever happen with this file?? Ever? No-one will EVER look at it again unless you ask them to. In five years time there will probably be no-one at the company who even remembers you, let alone what's in your file, let alone knows where it is. It doesn't get sent to your bank or your family or your friends. It doesn't get used. It won't be published in the local newspaper.

So what if its contents remain the same for life? If no-one's looking at it, its contents are irrelevant.

If there are things recorded that you're not happy about then contest them, especially if they are serious allegations. Otherwise let it go. You are far too concerned about what's written in a file that no-one will ever look at again.

HTH
KiKi

AnonymousForObviousReason

If you're that upset by the reference and are sure that it's indefensibly inaccurate then sue your employer for defamation. If you think the file is so important to your life ask employer to change the information under the data protection act. From the sound of things you won't be working back their anyway so if you need things to do rather than look for work go for it.

Good luck.