Can old employer allegedly pass bad references?

andreauk2009

Hello all,

I've been threatened from my current employer that if I keep asking for my notice period as per the contract terms, they will give bad references to new employers.

What should I do to prevent this to happen?

Thanks
Andrea

whitewing

They can only provide factual info on the reference, in theory at least.

What is the actual issue in terms of notice? Is it that they want you to work for longer than, say, a month's notice?

What does your contract say?

fred7777

whitewing wrote: »

" in theory at least."

In actual fact they can say anything they like on a reference.

If the reference is factually incorrect and you loose the position you can sue for damages.

DKLS

fred7777 wrote: »

In actual fact they can say anything they like on a reference.

If the reference is factually incorrect and you loose the position you can sue for damages.

You could sue, but what if its a verbal reference?

Undervalued

A reference must be true and not deliberately misleading. If it is not, and if you can show that you have suffered a loss as a result, then you could take legal action against them. This could either be an action for libel in the high court or for negligent misstatement which could be brought in the county court.

Unless you could find a lawyer willing to take the libel case on a no win no fee basis this is likely to be prohibitively expensive.

You could also ask a solicitor to write to them threatening action if they were to carry out their threat. This may, possibly, make them act with caution. However the problem is you cannot force them to provide a reference at all and a refusal could be just as damaging.

andreauk2009

Undervalued wrote: »

A reference must be true and not deliberately misleading. If it is not, and if you can show that you have suffered a loss as a result, then you could take legal action against them. This could either be an action for libel in the high court or for negligent misstatement which could be brought in the county court.

Unless you could find a lawyer willing to take the libel case on a no win no fee basis this is likely to be prohibitively expensive.

You could also ask a solicitor to write to them threatening action if they were to carry out their threat. This may, possibly, make them act with caution. However the problem is you cannot force them to provide a reference at all and a refusal could be just as damaging.

The problem is .. how can I find out what has been told? No company will say you have been not successful because of the bad reference. Hence I won't have anything to bring in my appeal.

The only thing that is at my side is that all previous companies have had nothing to regret about me.

Undervalued

andreauk2009 wrote: »

The problem is .. how can I find out what has been told? No company will say you have been not successful because of the bad reference. Hence I won't have anything to bring in my appeal.

The only thing that is at my side is that all previous companies have had nothing to regret about me.

You will be able to obtain a copy of any written reference from the recipient, if necessary by using the Data Protection Act.

If you are offered a job, subject to references, then the offer is withdrawn that is reasonable evidence that the reference was the reason.

However it would still need to be provably false (not just a matter of opinion) or deliberately misleading. It is possible to write statements that are in themselves true but to provide them in such a way that a reasonable person would draw the wrong conclusion.

andreauk2009

Undervalued wrote: »

You will be able to obtain a copy of any written reference from the recipient, if necessary by using the Data Protection Act..

What about the verbal one?

Undervalued

andreauk2009 wrote: »

What about the verbal one?

Well in theory you could obtain any notes the company made of it but those sort of documents often vanish!

Prothet_of_Doom

Contact the police. That is technically Blackmail. Isn't it ? It's a nasty problem.

Not sure what approach to suggest. Would your new employer wait ?

I know what I'd do if I suspected someone of giving me a bad reference, and that is to get a friend in a HR department to request a reference and and phone up and record the conversation with my old boss, and then if there was a single untruth contact a solicitor.

I think I'd contact new employer, and ask that they request the reference now, before you resign, and ensure you've got a job to go to. I'd probably verbal intimate to your old boss that you are not resigning until you have a firm offer that requires a reference, and then you'll agree to extended notice. Then I'd go back on my verbal word and leave as per contract.

Prothet_of_Doom

andreauk2009 wrote: »

The problem is .. how can I find out what has been told?.

For me my BiL has the Words Managing Director on his door, and I'd get him to phone up and ask increasingly difficult questions, about my abilities and attitude. We would tape it.