Employee rights and advice 18 March 2022 at 9:49PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 26 replies 1.3K views

sinofrench26

Unfortunately, I am going through a grievance at work.  ACAS have been involved and issued a certificate as the employer didn’t respond.  The grievance is around discrimination against my disability.  It’s been awful and I just want to leave to another job.  So I sought a reference from my old manager who left the company I worked for now.  Only to find out they can only give me a reference for a job that is not a public service and is private as they are aware of the escalating issues.  So the ppl involved has shared information outside of the company.  Is this against data protection?  Any advice would be appreciated. 

sinofrench26

Jillanddy said:

Nobody has to give you a reference. So if the former manager isn't willing to give you a reference, or not for a public sector job, then there is nothing you can do about that. Or do you mean that they will only give you a character reference? In which case, I agree - they are not your current line manager and therefore cannot provide an employers reference. Even more so if they no longer work for the employer.

But sorry - you will never prove anyone has shared anything. Gossip does the trick every time. And  say that having just completed a serious grievance against my own employer, also for disability discrimination (and would have been leading to unfair dismissal). The day I heard the outcome several colleagues congratulated me on the win. And I am 110% sure that the grievance officers told nobody anything!

I am slightly confused as to how ACAS has issued a certificate if you are still going through a grievance - ACAS cannot be involved in grievance procedures. 

I understand that no one needs to give me a reference.  The previous manager who has left the company is willing to give me a reference as former manager is off sick and other manager has only met me in a meeting. Do references need former managers? 

ACAS got involved in reconciliation only.  

I still haven’t had a grievance meeting from employer as it hasn’t been arranged. 

sinofrench26

Can’t believe your colleagues knew?  So it was a grievance you went through not an employment tribunal? 

Undervalued

sinofrench26 said:

Jillanddy said:

Nobody has to give you a reference. So if the former manager isn't willing to give you a reference, or not for a public sector job, then there is nothing you can do about that. Or do you mean that they will only give you a character reference? In which case, I agree - they are not your current line manager and therefore cannot provide an employers reference. Even more so if they no longer work for the employer.

But sorry - you will never prove anyone has shared anything. Gossip does the trick every time. And  say that having just completed a serious grievance against my own employer, also for disability discrimination (and would have been leading to unfair dismissal). The day I heard the outcome several colleagues congratulated me on the win. And I am 110% sure that the grievance officers told nobody anything!

I am slightly confused as to how ACAS has issued a certificate if you are still going through a grievance - ACAS cannot be involved in grievance procedures. 

I understand that no one needs to give me a reference.  The previous manager who has left the company is willing to give me a reference as former manager is off sick and other manager has only met me in a meeting. Do references need former managers? 

ACAS got involved in reconciliation only.  

I still haven’t had a grievance meeting from employer as it hasn’t been arranged. 

That depends entirely on the company you are applying to. It is up to them to decide what references are acceptable.

You will have to ask them if a reference from a former manager who, has now left the company, will be acceptable or not. Whilst some companies will show flexibility if you explains the circumstances, others won't.

sinofrench26

Undervalued said:

sinofrench26 said:

Jillanddy said:

Nobody has to give you a reference. So if the former manager isn't willing to give you a reference, or not for a public sector job, then there is nothing you can do about that. Or do you mean that they will only give you a character reference? In which case, I agree - they are not your current line manager and therefore cannot provide an employers reference. Even more so if they no longer work for the employer.

But sorry - you will never prove anyone has shared anything. Gossip does the trick every time. And  say that having just completed a serious grievance against my own employer, also for disability discrimination (and would have been leading to unfair dismissal). The day I heard the outcome several colleagues congratulated me on the win. And I am 110% sure that the grievance officers told nobody anything!

I am slightly confused as to how ACAS has issued a certificate if you are still going through a grievance - ACAS cannot be involved in grievance procedures. 

I understand that no one needs to give me a reference.  The previous manager who has left the company is willing to give me a reference as former manager is off sick and other manager has only met me in a meeting. Do references need former managers? 

ACAS got involved in reconciliation only.  

I still haven’t had a grievance meeting from employer as it hasn’t been arranged. 

That depends entirely on the company you are applying to. It is up to them to decide what references are acceptable.

You will have to ask them if a reference from a former manager who, has now left the company, will be acceptable or not. Whilst some companies will show flexibility if you explains the circumstances, others won't.

Are they allowed to give you a bad reference?

74jax

sinofrench26 said:

Jillanddy said:

Nobody has to give you a reference. So if the former manager isn't willing to give you a reference, or not for a public sector job, then there is nothing you can do about that. Or do you mean that they will only give you a character reference? In which case, I agree - they are not your current line manager and therefore cannot provide an employers reference. Even more so if they no longer work for the employer.

But sorry - you will never prove anyone has shared anything. Gossip does the trick every time. And  say that having just completed a serious grievance against my own employer, also for disability discrimination (and would have been leading to unfair dismissal). The day I heard the outcome several colleagues congratulated me on the win. And I am 110% sure that the grievance officers told nobody anything!

I am slightly confused as to how ACAS has issued a certificate if you are still going through a grievance - ACAS cannot be involved in grievance procedures. 

I understand that no one needs to give me a reference.  The previous manager who has left the company is willing to give me a reference as former manager is off sick and other manager has only met me in a meeting. Do references need former managers? 

ACAS got involved in reconciliation only.  

I still haven’t had a grievance meeting from employer as it hasn’t been arranged. 

How can someone who doesn't work for a company, write something on behalf of a company?   Are you sure it is on behalf of the company (company reference) and not a character reference? 
All my company references have been written by someone who doesn't know me. It's not unusual. Mainly just includes dates.

Undervalued

sinofrench26 said:

Undervalued said:

sinofrench26 said:

Jillanddy said:

Nobody has to give you a reference. So if the former manager isn't willing to give you a reference, or not for a public sector job, then there is nothing you can do about that. Or do you mean that they will only give you a character reference? In which case, I agree - they are not your current line manager and therefore cannot provide an employers reference. Even more so if they no longer work for the employer.

But sorry - you will never prove anyone has shared anything. Gossip does the trick every time. And  say that having just completed a serious grievance against my own employer, also for disability discrimination (and would have been leading to unfair dismissal). The day I heard the outcome several colleagues congratulated me on the win. And I am 110% sure that the grievance officers told nobody anything!

I am slightly confused as to how ACAS has issued a certificate if you are still going through a grievance - ACAS cannot be involved in grievance procedures. 

I understand that no one needs to give me a reference.  The previous manager who has left the company is willing to give me a reference as former manager is off sick and other manager has only met me in a meeting. Do references need former managers? 

ACAS got involved in reconciliation only.  

I still haven’t had a grievance meeting from employer as it hasn’t been arranged. 

That depends entirely on the company you are applying to. It is up to them to decide what references are acceptable.

You will have to ask them if a reference from a former manager who, has now left the company, will be acceptable or not. Whilst some companies will show flexibility if you explains the circumstances, others won't.

Are they allowed to give you a bad reference?

Yes, providing what they say is true and not deliberately misleading.

The idea that you cannot give a "bad" reference is a complete myth! A person giving a reference owes an equal duty to both parties to be honest.

With a very few exceptions, in certain regulated professions, nobody is obliged to provide a reference. 

unforeseen

In our public authority the "employers reference" must be from the current manager or HR (which in itself would ring some alarm bells as managers would normally provide the reference, so we would wonder why HR were doing it); 

In my current and previous company (both private) , all requests for employer references would be passed to HR who would just supply the basics.

sinofrench26

So the reason I asked my previous manager for a reference is that they have known me for over 10 years. Former manager is off sick.  I had one episode of sickness which was a few months due to the repercussions of the discrimination where by reasonable adjustments were not put in place until 2018.   

sinofrench26

I work in the public sector and want to move to a new job in the private sector

Undervalued

sinofrench26 said:

So the reason I asked my previous manager for a reference is that they have known me for over 10 years. Former manager is off sick.  I had one episode of sickness which was a few months due to the repercussions of the discrimination where by reasonable adjustments were not put in place until 2018.   

As I said earlier only your prospective employer can decide whether a reference from this former manager is acceptable to them or not.

The rights and wrongs of your grievance and the delay in providing reasonable adjustments are not really relevant to a job application. To be honest I wouldn't mention the issues to your prospective employer unless you have to.