Breach of confidentiality by employer

dandelionclock30

I wont end up spending lots of money, they will be quiet and will suffer the consequences-correspondence with a poor speller.

Thank you anyway.

SarEl

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I wont end up spending lots of money.

Yes, you will. There is no legal case to be made out of "my former employers told people the truth", and you will not only end up paying your own legal fees, you will pay theirs too - which are likely to be considerably higher than yours. And since you probably won't be able to pay up they will get a court order, possibly bankrupt you, and then can truthfully tell anyone they want to that you were dismissed, sued them and lost and are now bankrupt and haven't paid up what you owe. That will really improve matters, won't it?

dandelionclock30

What they have done is wrong pure and simple, they have breached their own confidentiality policy and the Data Protecton Act.Absolutley nothing changes this, as this also is the truth. They are funded by a body which insists they have to adhere to their policies.So even if there is no legal case there is a case in accountability to their Funders.
Its not about them telling the truth its about them breaching my confidentiality to 3rd parties.

Thank you all for your comments.

SarEl

But you cannot sue them for this! You can report them to the Information Commissioner, although I doubt they will be interested. But you cannot sue them. There is no legal case here. They have not defamed you or slandered you - they have told the truth. Their "confidentiality policy" isn't worth a fig in law - it's a statement of intent and not actionable. And what confidentiality have they breached anyway? You were dismissed, and that is what they have said. No different than "Joe retired" or "Fred left to go work in the Honduras". You may not like what they have done, but there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. Perhaps you should use your energy to find another job - it will be infinitely less misplaced in doing that then spending 5 pages on here arguing angels dancing on a pinhead. Be clear. There is utterly no financial or other advantage to you in wasting your enegy on this, and the risks to you are greater than any risk to them. Rather than dredging up and going over old ground, I would suggest that it would be better to try to get the dogs to sleep (as in letting sleeping dogs lie!). You have been dismissed. You say that it was fair. So you are not going to be up there as candidate of the year for many employers. There are things you can do to mitigate the dismissal (in most circumstances) - but it isn't going away any time soon, and your best course of action is to find a covincing way of explaining to employers that you have learned whatever lesson it was that needed learning (because I have no idea why you were dismissed), are a changed person, a vaulable person to take a risk on, and preferably socially useful too. Get some voluntary work to help you show that. And you will stand a better chance of getting another job than you will if you dwell on the past. What is done is done. Move on.

Uncertain

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

What they have done is wrong pure and simple, they have breached their own confidentiality policy and the Data Protecton Act.Absolutley nothing changes this, as this also is the truth. They are funded by a body which insists they have to adhere to their policies.So even if there is no legal case there is a case in accountability to their Funders.
Its not about them telling the truth its about them breaching my confidentiality to 3rd parties.

You just don't get it do you?

It doesn't matter how many times you keep repeating "they have breached their own policy and the dpa". They may have done but that is of little help to you I'm afraid.

You can report the breach of the DPA (if technically there actually is one and I'm not convinced) to the relevant body and they MIGHT get a slap on the wrist. It may cause them a little embarrassment and possibly cost them a few pounds. How does that help you?

You can also "shop" them to their funding body if you really believe that this one issue will cause them to re-assess their future funding. Maybe it will? Maybe they will see it as so serious that they take away all their money and your former colleagues end up on the dole! Fine, do that by all means if you think it is the right thing to do. How does this help you?

Or are you going to effectively try to blackmail them using the above as threats? Do you really think that will work? Even if they did what you are asking what guarantee would they have that you wouldn't "shop" them anyway?

The bottom line is that you are trying to prevent them from speaking the truth because the truth is not convenient to you. Your only realistic chance of doing this was if you had entered into legally binding agreement (i.e a CA) at the time of your dismissal. Even then it would be hard to enforce in the real world.

Sorry!

Now, I really am out!


Edit: Cross posted with SarEl who has made a much better job of saying the same thing. If you won't listen to me then PLEASE listen to her. Professionally her advice would have cost you a lot of money but (assuming you heeded it) saved you far more!

Good night!

dandelionclock30

Yes o.k thanks,I am doing 2 lots of voluntary work to help others and myself obviously as it will and is getting me another set of references.
It just doesnt help things when I told by people in the town centre that my ex employer is going round saying they have sacked me. Any person would find that quite hard.

Sambucus_Nigra

Anyone got Deja Vu?

dandelionclock30

I hope you dont experience any difficulties like this you complete !!!!.

SarEl

Yes they would. But, and I really do not mean to be harsh about this, the best way to not have that happen is to not get sacked! It is no doubt embarrassing. It is also, with the likely exception of references, a five minute wonder. And TBH, it isn't necessarily even true. Few people are stupid. "Joe no longer works for us" is an open invitation for a fishing expediation, and just because someone says that is what they were told doesn't make it true - but your reaction would have confirmed their guess I bet! Concentrate on "fixing" this and it doesn't have to be the end of the world. Your attitude will say far more about you than one (presumably) stupid thing you did. You can't deny it happened, and new references or not, you will be very foolish if you try to hide it (because these things have a way of getting out). But even these days employers will give people a second chance. You may have to search a bit harder for an employer who will, and you may have to temper your expectations a bit until they do. But you can either become bitter about it (and let it show), in which case you will find little sympathy from potential employers; or you can "man up" and learn from it, show people that you have done so, and that you are again a "safe pair of hands".

dandelionclock30

I am telling prospective new employers and they have been kind and supportive as i didnt do anything really bad. I just have to make sure this never happens again its been absolutley horrible to deal with as I've never been sacked before.