Vindictive Reference Leads to Job Offer removed

Minoush01

Looking for advice. I was offered a job in a school this week, after 4 years of being a stay at home mum I was over the moon. However the job offer has now been withdrawn due to a bad reference. The reference came from someone I'd done voluntary work for last year and I'd been led to believe would be positive. The person in question told my potential employer that she had reported me to Child Services last year due to an injury my child sustained. The injury was an accident caused by my child dropping her weight whilst I was holding her wrist as she had a tantrum on a walk by a very busy main road. I took her straight to hospital where the nurses said it was a really common child injury and I took her back several days later when it didn't improve. I didn't really understand why it was reported in the first place but Child Services rang me and after a brief conversation decided I'd done nothing wrong and had acted swiftly and appropriately when it was clear my child was hurt. Despite having done nothing wrong, my potential employer was told I'd been reported and despite my assurances that Child Services had no concerns.....and the fact I continued to volunteer, helped at a school and at Beavers and have been issued a DBS certificate for working with children the job offer has been withdrawn. Was my referee in the right to divulge the information when I'd been cleared of doing anything wrong!

tomtontom

It would be expected that such a report is passed on when working with children, however the new employer should give you a chance to explain and if need be to get proof that no action was taken. Even then, they can withdraw the job offer for pretty much any reason, unless it is discriminatory.

makeyourdaddyproud

tomtontom wrote: »

It would be expected that such a report is passed on when working with children, however the new employer should give you a chance to explain and if need be to get proof that no action was taken. Even then, they can withdraw the job offer for pretty much any reason, unless it is discriminatory.

And just how would that work? Does she mention every little detail at the interview however trivial in the hope that it marries accurately with a reference that might include it?

THIS is the devastation that unregulated reference giving causes; she said she had a DBS certificate. Leaving job offers dangling on the off-chance a spiteful employer (probably only a supervisor), can leave an unofficial 'take down' of an ex-employee's future aspiration should never be allowed.

Reference giving should be banned altogether. The ONLY reference a potential employer should ever be in possession of is the jobseeker's CV and interview conduct, and of course, DBS records where applicable.

Takeaway_Addict

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

And just how would that work? Does she mention every little detail at the interview however trivial in the hope that it marries accurately with a reference that might include it?

THIS is the devastation that unregulated reference giving causes; she said she had a DBS certificate. Leaving job offers dangling on the off-chance a spiteful employer (probably only a supervisor), can leave an unofficial 'take down' of an ex-employee's future aspiration should never be allowed.

Reference giving should be banned altogether. The ONLY reference a potential employer should ever be in possession of is the jobseeker's CV and interview conduct, and of course, DBS records where applicable.

If it's not true the OP can take action against the reference.

References are useful for employers.

TrickyDicky101

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

And just how would that work? Does she mention every little detail at the interview however trivial in the hope that it marries accurately with a reference that might include it?

THIS is the devastation that unregulated reference giving causes; she said she had a DBS certificate. Leaving job offers dangling on the off-chance a spiteful employer (probably only a supervisor), can leave an unofficial 'take down' of an ex-employee's future aspiration should never be allowed.

Reference giving should be banned altogether. The ONLY reference a potential employer should ever be in possession of is the jobseeker's CV and interview conduct, and of course, DBS records where applicable.

Presumably it was the doctor/hospital who reported this - surely your ire should be directed at them, not at the ex-employer for providing a factual reference.

whitewing

I think Ofsted specifies that references are required, and therefore it is probably a condition of the school's insurance.

The referee may have asked advice before issuing the reference. If she hadn't mentioned it and then it came to light later that could have had serious consequences.

Perhaps the OP could take legal advice and maybe agree some wording with the referee for future instances.

Minoush01

The Dr/hospital didn't report it, they had no issue with how the injury had happened. The Dr I dealt with even said he thought it could have been a build up of stress on my childs arm that caused it. Earlier my child had fallen backwards from a swing, I was nowhere near, then we had situation at the road side and after that the initial nurse tried manipulating the elbow joint three times. No xray was taken until I took child back two days later when no sign of improvement. I should never have used this person as a referee but I naively thought that as I'd been cleared of any wrong doing and had volunteered a few times since the incident that the situation was behind us. In fact the person in question had said they were happy to be a referee!

elsien

My mum used to own a nursery school, and was reported for her handling of an incident by a disgruntled ex-member of staff. The police and social services investigated, decided that all was fine and there was no case to answer. However she was also told that the report would always be on the system.
Your referee wasn't necessarily being vindictive - if the question is asked, she has to answer.
Have you had the chance to explain to the school? Do you need to use this person as a reference, and if so can you agree a wording so that if it happens again she can also make it clear that you acted appropriately?
And for the reasons why these things stay on the system, remember Ian Huntley?

theoretica

I think you need to ask to see the schools policy about when disclosures show something, or references do (ask for both as the first is a legal requirement to have, I don't know that the 2nd is) and how they have followed that in this case.

FBaby

Do you know what the reference asked for? If no question led to such disclosure, you may have a case for libel, but would it be worth considering to do so, not sure.

If a question said anything such as 'would you have any concerns about the applicant taking on a job working with children', then it would be their responsibility to bring it up.

It is then not a case of them vindictive but of the school not being prepared to take a 'chance', especially if there were other applicants almost as good at you with no such concerns. Remember, they don't really know you but what you showed during that short interview, so whereas it is obvious to you that you are not a danger to children, they can't know that, and anything that raise questions, even if it is only a 1% doubt is probably not worth them taking the chance. I really feel for you though, what a blow when you don't expect it.

Takeaway_Addict

FBaby wrote: »

Do you know what the reference asked for? If no question led to such disclosure, you may have a case for libel, but would it be worth considering to do so, not sure.

If a question said anything such as 'would you have any concerns about the applicant taking on a job working with children', then it would be their responsibility to bring it up.

It is then not a case of them vindictive but of the school not being prepared to take a 'chance', especially if there were other applicants almost as good at you with no such concerns. Remember, they don't really know you but what you showed during that short interview, so whereas it is obvious to you that you are not a danger to children, they can't know that, and anything that raise questions, even if it is only a 1% doubt is probably not worth them taking the chance. I really feel for you though, what a blow when you don't expect it.

It doesn't matter what the question asked was as the information was true.