what is the law on seeking references not listed?

sussexlad2009

Hi

A friend of mine was shocked to be called into work and told that his reference had come back unsatisfactory from a employer he did a short term job for prior to his last employer.
He was not kept on by this employer due to lack of work so was 'let go' but on the reference they said he was dismissed.

My pal is now suspended and very concerned.

One point is that he never gave this employer as a referee so it seems his current company has sought it without permission.
Is this allowed here in the UK?

Owain_Moneysaver

The prospective employer is allowed to request a reference from whoever they choose.

However, the former employer may be liable to the employee for defamation or negligent misstatement. Thour v Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

This is a difficult area of law and specialist employment lawyers may need to be consulted.

sussexlad2009

I'll pass that on thanks

montyrebel

was this person the last employer before the job he is in now?
think most applications now have a "can we contact your previous employer" question etc so if it is then they may just have done this if he ticked yes etc

System

montyrebel wrote: »

was this person the last employer before the job he is in now?
think most applications now have a "can we contact your previous employer" question etc so if it is then they may just have done this if he ticked yes etc

OP said it was the 2 previous jobs the bad ref was received to the current job. To make things simpler, his current job, where is suspended is job C, the one with the bad ref is job A.

The OP stated that the employer received the bad ref from that he was in that for short term. If its less than 3 months, the OP should not have listed it on his CV/application form unless the role and skills were relevant to his current job.

On my CV, I put down for the 8-9 months I was temping and listed some of the roles I did.