Help Been given bad reference

chan_ok

I have been out of work for 6 months now, I resigned from my last job by leaving a letter of resignation with no notice as i had a dispute with the chairman and felt his behaviour was very unprofessional but i did not state this in my letter of resignation i stated that i felt it was time to move on , i did discuss my intentions to leave with a senior manager and he felt the same as i that it was time to leave and he warned that he felt i may not get a good reference from the chairman, so i never put him down for references i use my old line manager instead, Last week i had a job interview and was given the job the very next day, i signed the contract and was due to start Monday pending satisfactory references, as you can guess the job has been withdrawn, my old line manager is on annual leave so the chairman stepped in to give references ! all i know is that my potential new employer rang me to clarify why i left my last job as it was stated that i walked out giving no notice, and also when asked would you re employ he said no due to competence.
This has lost me a dream job, and caused inconvenience as i signed off benefits when job was offered and now have to reclaim. i do not want to take my old job off my C.V as i was there for 5 years and gained a great deal of experience.
What do i do? i am so angry i feel to pay the chairman a visit and tell him what i think of him but also is there anything i can do legally, as you are not allowed to give a bad reference, but is what he said about me deemed bad?
Help please !

Forwandert

Sorry but you can give a good or bad reference so long as its accurate.

Uncertain

chan_ok wrote: »

as you are not allowed to give a bad reference,

Where oh where does this piece of total nonsense keep coming from. :mad:

It is a total myth!

A reference must be true and not deliberately misleading - end of!!!!!

Was it?

If not then you MAY be able to get some redress but you will need good legal advice.

chan_ok

Uncertain wrote: »

Where oh where does this piece of total nonsense keep coming from. :mad:

It is a total myth!

A reference must be true and not deliberately misleading - end of!!!!!

Was it?

If not then you MAY be able to get some redress but you will need good legal advice.

This was his personal opinion of me, i was with the organisation for 5 years so could not of been that bad, i am able to get good references off all other senior members of organisation.
Thankyou for your reply, i just heard that if you cant give a good reference then dont give one at all.

vwelsh13

same happened to me...I was on verge of taking previous employer to tribuneral for unfair dismissal bbut received settlement. I had workplace assault and had time off due to injury and very strong painkillers.

The ref given said I was unreliable but didin't explain why etc . Still looking for perm job after 5 years!!! :mad: Union said it wasn't worth pursuing anymore just try temping to get reference

good luck

sharkie

chan_ok wrote: »

i just heard that if you cant give a good reference then dont give one at all.

Well, this is more of a saying and not real law.

You need to get a copy of your reference. If it is factual, or sort of true - bad luck.

Yes, large companies can and do carry people for 5, 10 years etc, even if they are totally incompetant. Also they may even be promoted to get them out of lesser paid but key roles.

You could also apply to your old company under the freedom of information act asking for all the information regarding yourself.

Uncertain

vwelsh13 wrote: »

same happened to me...I was on verge of taking previous employer to tribuneral for unfair dismissal bbut received settlement. I had workplace assault and had time off due to injury and very strong painkillers.


good luck

The big mistake here was not getting an agreed reference as part of the settlement.

A tribunal can't order this even if you win but if you settle you can make it a legally binding part of the settlement. If a company is looking to settle it will normally agree as it costs them nothing.

It can be worth FAR more that an extra thousand or two in cash!

anamenottaken

sharkie wrote: »

You could also apply to your old company under the freedom of information act asking for all the information regarding yourself.

Think you meant to write "under Data Protection legislation".

[Freedom of Information Act is about information held by public bodies - like how much in total they have spent on management consultants or how many bariatric surgery procedures were carried out in XYZ hospital.]

AFAIK they don't have to provide reference documents.

heretolearn_2

Yawn. What the chairman said was true - you did walk out without giving notice, and they wouldn't re-employ you. References don't have to be nice, they have to be true. there's nothing you can do - just don't make the mistake of walking out again, always work your notice whatever the situation, as it's always going to look terrible to any prospective employer.

bristol_pilot

Saying that you walked out without notice is a true statement and there is nothing you can do about that.

However stating that someone is incompetent is not factual it is opinion and could be libel if untrue or misleading. If you are in a union or have legal insurance you could look into suing the person who wrote it, also anyone who helped send it like the secretary, office girl, photocopier operator and so forth can be sued. The burden of proof would be on the 'chairman' (and others) to prove justification.

This shows why people are advised not to give bad references.

starrystarry

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Saying that you walked out without notice is a true statement and there is nothing you can do about that.

However stating that someone is incompetent is not factual it is opinion and could be libel if untrue or misleading. If you are in a union or have legal insurance you could look into suing the person who wrote it, also anyone who helped send it like the secretary, office girl, photocopier operator and so forth can be sued. The burden of proof would be on the 'chairman' (and others) to prove justification.

This shows why people are advised not to give bad references.

No no no. The OP said that one of the questions on the reference was "would you employ this person again". It sounds like the chairman answered that he wouldn't due to competency reasons. He did not state that the OP was incompetent. He may have implied it, but he didn't state it. OP, please don't waste your time going down this avenue.