Current employer (of 12 years) asking now for references from previous job

Jude57

MalMonroe said:

If it were me, any incompetency aside, I'd just comply as best I could. If people are unable to provide the information they've been asked for at least they can provide some proof that they have attempted to obtain it.

It's not a big deal, especially if you're working at a school. I'd be thinking about the students and their safety, too. 

If nobody has anything to hide, or even if they do, it's just better to get on with it and try to source the info requested. 

Not really worth consulting a union rep because it's not really an outrageous request. Unusual, maybe to ask for information many years later but if that's all you have to do, OP, it's no big deal. Is it? Get that certificate and take it in. Then it's over and done with.

Union reps, especially Branch Officers, deal with HR every day and are likely to know, or be able to easily find out, why this information is only now being requested. They are also in a position to encourage HR to see that for many people, even without GDPR, there'd be no-one at a previous employer who could give more than a basic reference, i.e. dates and title of employment.

It's highly likely that the person who drew up the form to be completed is a junior member of the HR team and that it hasn't been very well thought through. A good Union rep/Branch Officer can help both sides see how to navigate through this. If members used their Union reps in this way, rather than calling them in a panic on the morning of a disciplinary hearing, these things needn't escalate into 'outrageous' territory.

Savvy_Sue

MalMonroe said:

Get that certificate and take it in. Then it's over and done with.

I discovered the other day that a) you're not given a marriage certificate on the day itself and b) you don't HAVE to have one sent to you afterwards.

Obviously you can order one afterwards, but it's entirely possible not to have one.

silverwhistle

As others have pointed out these are often box ticking exercises without much thought behind the questions.

A few years ago I applied to teach an English Language summer school. At the interview there were two acadamic types and a junior HR representative who asked about a gap in my CV between the end of my degree in early summer and my start in September at a large company where I remained for 25 years. A pause whilst I registered my disbelief, a look at the two academics and a reply to HR that in fact I worked on a building site and then had two weeks holiday. This was 38 years previously, before gap years and long holidays became common.

I worked at 4 different FE colleges due to the paucity of hours offered in that field, plus other jobs too, and I may have missed the odd small short duration one. But allow HR their 'aha!', answer questions to the best of your ability and try not to let your irritation show! ;-)