How to force a former employer to reply to a letter?

Vectis

anon200 said: In any case, are the details of the comment relevant to my question?

Yes, completely relevant.

If you'd queried a start or end date, for instance, they would very probably have responded. But, with you not saying what the comment was, it's difficult, if not impossible, for anyone here to say whether they should or would respond.

Either way, you can't 'force' someone to respond to you, at least not without going to Court.

Marcon

Vectis said:

anon200 said: In any case, are the details of the comment relevant to my question?

Yes, completely relevant.

If you'd queried a start or end date, for instance, they would very probably have responded. But, with you not saying what the comment was, it's difficult, if not impossible, for anyone here to say whether they should or would respond.

Either way, you can't 'force' someone to respond to you, at least not without going to Court.

OP has had the good sense not to post the comment here. Even if they did, the views of people here are completely irrelevant in terms of answering OP's original question.

anon200

Marcon said:

anon200 said:

I need to write to a former employer to ask them to clarify a comment in a reference they did for me, after the comment resulted in a job offer being withdrawn. It seems likely the employer will fail to respond to my letter, since their reply may enable me to take legal action against them (which is hardly in their interest).

Is there anything I can say in the letter that will force them to respond? Will I have to get a solicitor to write to them on my behalf instead and will the solicitor be able to force them to respond? How much is such a solicitor's letter likely to cost me?

I would rather write the letter myself since using a solicitor will cost hundreds of pounds.

OP - if you can't afford a solicitor (as opposed to simply preferring to save money, which is understandable!), have a look at <link removed> and see if there is a law clinic near you, or one which operates by telephone or Teams call and would cover your question.

Thanks for this suggestion. As it happens I had previously had advice from a free legal clinic - that was where the idea of getting clarification for the reference comment originally came from.

As for using a solicitor, just getting one to write a letter to a former employer on my behalf (without any follow-up action) would cost on the order of £500+ (or so I've been told). While I might be able to stump up the money I wouldn't regard that sort of cost (for a single, limited task) as being affordable in relation to my income. Unfortunately the advice from the legal clinic didn't go into details of how to ensure the recipient of the letter responded.

I've seen or heard a suggestion that a solicitor letter could force a response from the former employer. I'm sketchy on the details but believe it involved a notification in the letter of potential court action against the employer, thereby putting the employer in the position of either engaging with the letter or running a risk of non-engagement counting against them in a court case. But maybe I've got this wrong, given that none of the responders on this forum seem to know anything about such an approach.

elsien

That doesn’t automatically force a reply. It depends how seriously the employer takes the threat of legal action. It can work, but it’s not guaranteed. 

Undervalued

anon200 said:

Marcon said:

anon200 said:

I need to write to a former employer to ask them to clarify a comment in a reference they did for me, after the comment resulted in a job offer being withdrawn. It seems likely the employer will fail to respond to my letter, since their reply may enable me to take legal action against them (which is hardly in their interest).

Is there anything I can say in the letter that will force them to respond? Will I have to get a solicitor to write to them on my behalf instead and will the solicitor be able to force them to respond? How much is such a solicitor's letter likely to cost me?

I would rather write the letter myself since using a solicitor will cost hundreds of pounds.

OP - if you can't afford a solicitor (as opposed to simply preferring to save money, which is understandable!), have a look at <link removed> and see if there is a law clinic near you, or one which operates by telephone or Teams call and would cover your question.

Thanks for this suggestion. As it happens I had previously had advice from a free legal clinic - that was where the idea of getting clarification for the reference comment originally came from.

As for using a solicitor, just getting one to write a letter to a former employer on my behalf (without any follow-up action) would cost on the order of £500+ (or so I've been told). While I might be able to stump up the money I wouldn't regard that sort of cost (for a single, limited task) as being affordable in relation to my income. Unfortunately the advice from the legal clinic didn't go into details of how to ensure the recipient of the letter responded.

I've seen or heard a suggestion that a solicitor letter could force a response from the former employer. I'm sketchy on the details but believe it involved a notification in the letter of potential court action against the employer, thereby putting the employer in the position of either engaging with the letter or running a risk of non-engagement counting against them in a court case. But maybe I've got this wrong, given that none of the responders on this forum seem to know anything about such an approach.

No, it won't "force" a response. It might encourage one or it might have the opposite effect!

Realistically they must realise that you are unlikely the have the resources to contemplate high court action for deformation, few people have!

There is a saying that "only rich men and publicity seekers sue for libel".

Exodi

anon200 said:

I've seen or heard a suggestion that a solicitor letter could force a response from the former employer. I'm sketchy on the details but believe it involved a notification in the letter of potential court action against the employer, thereby putting the employer in the position of either engaging with the letter or running a risk of non-engagement counting against them in a court case. But maybe I've got this wrong, given that none of the responders on this forum seem to know anything about such an approach.

I'm a bit confused on the logic here.

You opened by admitting yourself: "It seems likely the employer will fail to respond to my letter, since their reply may enable me to take legal action against them".

So you understand you might be effectively asking them to incriminate themselves by disclosing to you a potentially defamatory statement that was made about you. You acknowledge this is unlikely.

Yet you now think if you get a solicitor to send them a letter, implying a judge may take a dim view on their lack of engagement, they'll somehow scurry to potentially incriminate themselves?

"given that none of the responders on this forum seem to know anything about such an approach" - I think that is an unfair response given that there are 4 pages of people devoting their own personal time to respond to you. Yes, cases can be influenced by a litigants conduct. A defendant not responding at all typically leads to a default judgement against them - does that help? 

I think it's more this notion you have that you can force people to respond to you - you can't, it is an odd request, you can't force people to do anything (though potentially through waterboarding, I guess?).

lincroft1710

If there is ambiguity in the wording of the reference and you instruct a solicitor to send a letter requesting clarification, all the employer has to do is reply saying "It means X" which is in fact a favourable comment, even if this isn't what they meant. And the solicitor is £500 richer, you are £500 poorer and still haven't got the true answer!


Give this one up as a bad job! Only if the reference said "Anon200, was lazy, careless, rude and always late" would you have any hope of redress (unless the employer could prove the reference was truthful).

saajan_12

anon200 said:

Marcon said:

anon200 said:

I need to write to a former employer to ask them to clarify a comment in a reference they did for me, after the comment resulted in a job offer being withdrawn. It seems likely the employer will fail to respond to my letter, since their reply may enable me to take legal action against them (which is hardly in their interest).

Is there anything I can say in the letter that will force them to respond? Will I have to get a solicitor to write to them on my behalf instead and will the solicitor be able to force them to respond? How much is such a solicitor's letter likely to cost me?

I would rather write the letter myself since using a solicitor will cost hundreds of pounds.

OP - if you can't afford a solicitor (as opposed to simply preferring to save money, which is understandable!), have a look at <link removed> and see if there is a law clinic near you, or one which operates by telephone or Teams call and would cover your question.

I've seen or heard a suggestion that a solicitor letter could force a response from the former employer. I'm sketchy on the details but believe it involved a notification in the letter of potential court action against the employer, thereby putting the employer in the position of either engaging with the letter or running a risk of non-engagement counting against them in a court case. But maybe I've got this wrong, given that none of the responders on this forum seem to know anything about such an approach.

Plenty of experienced posters, but it depends entirely on your claim and you're not giving sufficient info to advise.
- If you/solicitor would say "you've given a vague reference, be more specific" then that would likely fail - the former employer is likely under no obligation to give a detailed reference, they just can't lie. (I say likely because your employment contract or industry regulation may say otherwise but this is usually the case). 

- If you/solicitor would say "you've vaguely said something negative, clarify or it sounds like it means x and I'll sue because that's incorrect" then it depends on what was said. 

Undervalued

saajan_12 said:

anon200 said:

Marcon said:

anon200 said:

I need to write to a former employer to ask them to clarify a comment in a reference they did for me, after the comment resulted in a job offer being withdrawn. It seems likely the employer will fail to respond to my letter, since their reply may enable me to take legal action against them (which is hardly in their interest).

Is there anything I can say in the letter that will force them to respond? Will I have to get a solicitor to write to them on my behalf instead and will the solicitor be able to force them to respond? How much is such a solicitor's letter likely to cost me?

I would rather write the letter myself since using a solicitor will cost hundreds of pounds.

OP - if you can't afford a solicitor (as opposed to simply preferring to save money, which is understandable!), have a look at <link removed> and see if there is a law clinic near you, or one which operates by telephone or Teams call and would cover your question.

I've seen or heard a suggestion that a solicitor letter could force a response from the former employer. I'm sketchy on the details but believe it involved a notification in the letter of potential court action against the employer, thereby putting the employer in the position of either engaging with the letter or running a risk of non-engagement counting against them in a court case. But maybe I've got this wrong, given that none of the responders on this forum seem to know anything about such an approach.

Plenty of experienced posters, but it depends entirely on your claim and you're not giving sufficient info to advise.
- If you/solicitor would say "you've given a vague reference, be more specific" then that would likely fail - the former employer is likely under no obligation to give a detailed reference, they just can't lie. (I say likely because your employment contract or industry regulation may say otherwise but this is usually the case). 

- If you/solicitor would say "you've vaguely said something negative, clarify or it sounds like it means x and I'll sue because that's incorrect" then it depends on what was said. 

Indeed. In fact it goes further, except in certain regulated occupations or if there is a contractual agreement to provide a reference, your employer is under no obligation at all to provide any kind of reference.

In which case simply refusing to provide a reference or just ignoring all requests will generally be seen as having nothing good to say about you but is completely unactionable!