"No oral references" clause breached?

Firstwatch

Hello,

I had a settlement agreement when I left my last company several months ago.

I now genuinely believe that my previous employer has breached the settlement, as I have an agreed reference attached to it and a clause that states, "no oral references will be given in any less favourable manner"

I have just not got past the first round of interviews for a role for which I am specifically qualified, and I have very strong suspicions that a telephone call was made to one of the managers at my old company, who was seriously embarrassed by his parts in the situation and I believe that he has bad mouthed/slandered me to this new place. There were some very random and out of context questions asked within the interview that makes me smell a rat. Additionally, the person giving me feedback was noticeably cagey on the phone.

What are my options? I actually ended my Union membership when it expired in August as I was still unemployed, but can I go back to them about this archived case?

stevemLS

The union is unlikely to help you if you are no longer a member.

Suspicion and conjecture is no use, it is facts that matter.

You need, IMO, to do a subject access request on the potential employer that has turned you down.

Undervalued

stevemLS wrote: »

The union is unlikely to help you if you are no longer a member.

Suspicion and conjecture is no use, it is facts that matter.

You need, IMO, to do a subject access request on the potential employer that has turned you down.

That will only help if they (a) made any written notes about the assumed "oral reference" and (b) are honest enough to disclose them.

You might be lucky but I wouldn't hold my breath!

Compromise / Settlement agreement references are always a problem. Even without the grapevine and / or unofficial "don't quote me" type references it is very very difficult for a formal reference not to look as if it has the words settlement agreement stamped all over it! Sadly that highlights to a future employer that there has been a problem and they often, perhaps totally unfairly, assume the worst.

It is also possible that this person was phoned and, quite properly, refused to discuss the matter which comes to much the same thing!

shortcrust

stevemLS wrote: »

The union is unlikely to help you if you are no longer a member.

Suspicion and conjecture is no use, it is facts that matter.

You need, IMO, to do a subject access request on the potential employer that has turned you down.

I suppose it's cheaper than having a t-shrt made with "I'm unemployable!" plastered on it. Just as effective though.

Snakey

When I signed mine, the solicitor basically told me that the "no less favourable oral reference" thing was a waste of space anyway because you'd never be able to prove it. (My then-employers refused to include it on the grounds that they never give oral or informal references and so the situation could never possibly arise. I was suspicious, as I was basically bullied out of the place by my boss and although you'd like to think that people would not want to make themselves look unprofessional in front of the wider world I didn't think I could rule out deliberate "word to the wise" sabotage as it might reflect badly on him if I walked into a much better job and did well at it).

Luckily for me, nobody at my next job knew anybody from my last one and so the informal approach never happened. Since I also have freelance work in between the two roles, it's no longer likely that anybody would approach the old lot anyway as they have two other sets of people to try first (although admittedly I'm not completely safe until a lot more time has passed).

It sucks. People shouldn't be able to get you from "beyond the grave". I can only advise that you pick yourself up and carry on, until you find a place where references are taken up by HR and there is no policy of asking for informal verbal references. Once you have a more recent employment, the risk of anybody approaching the other lot again drops massively.

DKLS

stevemLS wrote: »

You need, IMO, to do a subject access request on the potential employer that has turned you down.

HR received one of these requests from one of my interviews, when I looked back at my notes it was full of doodles of cats n dogs, so one of the HR ladies wrote up some more suitable notes for release.