Dispute with ex employer

djmsemcgrath

Is there a correct forum for advice about a dispute with my former employer? They are acting hugely unreasonably, but I want the quickest possible solution, so I was after advice.

I handed my notice in and worked my 4 weeks. They were annoyed at me handing my notice in as they needed me, but they had treated me poorly for months so I found a better job. Today, I received my pay and it was £900 less than it should be. I phoned them, and they said "We can't discuss that over the phone, you'll have to come in and see us". I thought that was strange, but said OK, I'll come in today, and they said "we're busy today, sorry. Can you come in 2 weeks on Monday". I said no, because I need that money and they said sorry, that's the quickest we can do.

I am convinced they have underpaid me to get back at me for leaving, and are making things as difficult as possible.

In addition, I started my new job last week, and they've just received my reference. My new manager showed it to me, and it says "Timekeeping, poor. Reliability, poor. Attention to detail, poor, etc.". There's no positives on it at all. My manager said he's ignoring it, because he was 7 other employees from that company and they all left because of the way they were treated and he's received similar references in the past. However, he said that if head office do a spot check, they might look at it, and it might make my employment there difficult.

While I was working for my old company, every evaluation I had was fine and no-one raised any concerns, so again, I'm convinced they are out to get me, or make things difficult for me.

What is the best thing for me to do in this circumstance? I need my money as quickly as possible, so I haven't really got time to wait 2 weeks and follow their timescales. Can I threaten them with small claims this soon? Maybe a threat will work?

Can I sue or claim or something for reputational damage and damage to my working prospects by basically lying about me?

What options do I have?

Thanks in advance.

sangie595

In relation to the money, there is nothing that will get you it within two weeks. You will firstly have to write a letter before action, explaining how much is owed and why, and giving them a reasonable amount of time to pay. That is usually at least 21 days. More commonly 28 days. If the money is them not paid you can go to the small claims court - but you can't just go straight there first. You have to try to resolve it before taking legal action.

There is a possibility of suing over the reference for negligent misstatement. But it's a stretch. There is no reputational damage as the employer had ignored it. Nor is there any damage - the employer had ignored it. And it will cost you up front for at least court fees, and probably a lawyer - even if you won, there'd be little compensation because you haven't suffered any loss. You could threaten action and try to greet the reference retracted or amended. But it probably isn't realistic to do anything more.

makeyourdaddyproud

sangie595 wrote: »

...Nor is there any damage - the employer had ignored it.

You didn't read it thoroughly enough; the OP said that their employment could be made difficult if their head office saw the reference. The disregarding of the reference was purely made at site level.

djmsemcgrath

I've suffered financial difficulties by being without my money for at least two weeks for no good reason.
I could have suffered job difficulties if my local manager wasn't on my side and I could still suffer difficulties if anyone above him looks at my file for whatever reason.

I just feel unfairly victimised and wondered what my options were.

sangie595

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

You didn't read it thoroughly enough; the OP said that their employment could be made difficult if their head office saw the reference. The disregarding of the reference was purely made at site level.

I did read it carefully enough. You cannot claim damages for something that hasn't happened. Courts do not deal with what might happen. The OP can make a claim of negligent misstatement, but they will get no damages for things that haven't happened.

Tiddlywinks

How large is your previous employer? Is there an HR department? How much can your former manager act of his own volition?

Have a read of this:

http://www.lawdonut.co.uk/law/employment-law/dismissals-and-redundancies/giving-references

and this:

https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1064/the_employment_practices_code.pdf

The ICO guidelines cover how the employer should maintain records that are accurate and relevant. They should be able to back up their claims of poor timekeeping etc from the corporate record.

It may be worth getting a free consultation with a solicitor just to see how much a letter would cost to remind them of their obligations to be clear and accurate in their statements and records.

The next steps really depend on the size of the business and the author of the reference.

FBaby

I've suffered financial difficulties by being without my money for at least two weeks for no good reason.

How much of a % of your income did they pay you. If it is say 1/2, they could argue that 2 weeks to wait shouldn't have caused you problems.

Is your monthly pay 1/2 of your annual income, and therefore they deducted something that you don't know relate to or are you arguing they haven't paid for additional hours/holiday pay/commission?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

You didn't read it thoroughly enough; the OP said that their employment could be made difficult if their head office saw the reference. The disregarding of the reference was purely made at site level.

You have a habit of making inaccurate snipes at people, and then not responding when shown you are wrong. So why not say sorry this time?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

damianjmcgrath wrote: »

I've suffered financial difficulties by being without my money for at least two weeks for no good reason.
I could have suffered job difficulties if my local manager wasn't on my side and I could still suffer difficulties if anyone above him looks at my file for whatever reason.

I just feel unfairly victimised and wondered what my options were.

The financial difficulties are different from the reference issues. If you incurred any financial loss due to that delay you could include it in any eventual court claim for unpaid wages; but it's a separate issue entirely.

As already pointed out, the fact that you could suffer difficulties is not something a court can or will act on. The fact is you haven't, yet. When and if you do, then you could bring an action.

djmsemcgrath

In regards to the financial element, in response to a previous poster, I get paid around £1400 a month, and always have since I worked there. This month, they paid me £500 with no explanation why. I don't receive my payslip until 2 weeks after I get paid so I can't check to see what's happened. That's why I phoned them to query it and they are basically refusing to talk to me over the phone and have asked me to come into the office in 2 weeks time. To the best of my knowledge, I worked all days I was expected to, and they definitely didn't raise any issues before I left. I am absolutely convinced that the people who were annoyed that I left have "made a mistake" on purpose because they know I rely on the majority of my pay for my bills. I imagine in 2 weeks time, they will pay me, or try and drag something out for a bit longer, but this was just done to screw me over.

On the job element, I have a new job and my immediate manager is happy with me, and has dismissed the reference. However, I am now basically living in fear of someone higher up doing spot checks, seeing the reference, and asking questions. Especially if my new company decides to let people go at some stage, my poor reference will go against me. I understand that nothing bad has happened yet, but their false reference (again, done purely to screw me over) has put me at future risk, and this cannot be fair.

I obviously don't understand the legal ins and outs, and people have pointed out to me that a court is unlikely to consider future loss of earnings due to misrepresentation in a reference, but can people understand why I think I'm being treated unfairly?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Well, if they have claimed your performance was poor if it wasn't poor, then of course you are being treated unfairly. It's unfair almost by definition, so there's no point anyone commenting. You must know this yourself without being told.

The only question is whether they had grounds for saying this, which we can't know or back you up on.