Fired and job seeking - No, not I

AndyCroft1982 said:
i think it is, what is to stop someone who takes a dislike to you from telling lies to a potential future employer? There are laws to protect people for this very reason

saying that though, if you have been sacked for genuine reason your up poo creek, i mean your friend is
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Who in their right mind would give that person as a reference though?
 
Not that old chestnut again, it is not illegal to give someone a negative reference. However it's rare that companies will go into specific details without a lot of proof as it leaves them open to litigation.

However if he was sacked for gross misconduct following an investigation and all procedures were followed then they can absolutely inform the new company if a reference is requested as long as they can back up what they are saying.
 
If lying proves necessary he could say the contract ended or if it's really bad try to get a carp buffer job that has a legitimate end or find a relevant company that closed shop for whatever reason and claim to have done the job he is experienced in at the closed firm.
 
Haggisman said:
I wish people wouldn't keep spreading misinformation like this.

It's perfectly legal for them to state provable facts about you. If these facts happen to be negative (such as "Dave was 3 hours late for work every day"), then so be it.

However, many employers don't give these references, as unless the evidence is watertight, there can be legal implications.
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Ok maybe i was wrong ish but then again the op can do his own research lol or his friend

https://www.gov.uk/work-reference
 
thep02 said:
If lying proves necessary he could say the contract ended or if it's really bad try to get a carp buffer job that has a legitimate end or find a relevant company that closed shop for whatever reason and claim to have done the job he is experienced in at the closed firm.
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This has to be the worst advice.

If he listened to you only would he be lying about the circumstances from which he left his previous employment he would be fabricating a completely false work history.
 
Employers must give a reference if:

there was a written agreement to do so
they’re in a regulated industry, eg financial services
If they give a reference it:

must be fair and accurate - and can include details about workers’ performance and if they were sacked
can be brief - eg job title, salary and when the worker was employed
Once the worker starts with a new employer they can ask to see a copy of a reference. They have no right to ask their previous employer.

Bad references
If the worker thinks they’ve been given an unfair or misleading reference, they may be able to claim damages in a court. The previous employer must be able to back up the reference - eg, by supplying examples of warning letters.

Workers must be able to show that:

it’s misleading or inaccurate
they ‘suffered a loss’ (eg a job offer was withdrawn)
 
AndyCroft1982 said:
Employers must give a reference if:

there was a written agreement to do so
they’re in a regulated industry, eg financial services
If they give a reference it:

must be fair and accurate - and can include details about workers’ performance and if they were sacked
can be brief - eg job title, salary and when the worker was employed
Once the worker starts with a new employer they can ask to see a copy of a reference. They have no right to ask their previous employer.

Bad references
If the worker thinks they’ve been given an unfair or misleading reference, they may be able to claim damages in a court. The previous employer must be able to back up the reference - eg, by supplying examples of warning letters.

Workers must be able to show that:

it’s misleading or inaccurate
they ‘suffered a loss’ (eg a job offer was withdrawn)
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You've basically just confirmed that it's perfectly legal to provide a bad reference provided it's true and provable :p

Although how does this work:

"Once the worker starts with a new employer they can ask to see a copy of a reference. They have no right to ask their previous employer."

How do you know if you've been given a bad reference, as surely they wouldn't employ you, so you wouldn't be able to ask them for a copy of the reference?
 
Haggisman said:
You've basically just confirmed that it's perfectly legal to provide a bad reference provided it's true and provable :p

Although how does this work:

"Once the worker starts with a new employer they can ask to see a copy of a reference. They have no right to ask their previous employer."

How do you know if you've been given a bad reference, as surely they wouldn't employ you, so you wouldn't be able to ask them for a copy of the reference?
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Ive already put my hands up and said i was wrong, the info i then posted is off the governments site
 
AndyCroft1982 said:
Im pretty sure its illegal for employers to give negative references. Id just tell them it wasnt challenging enough for him and wanted to look for a better position, also there was no possibility of moving up the company? As far as im aware employers can only give dates and position as a reference, ofc "off the record" comments will be hard to prove
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No, companies can give negative references but they have to be careful to be honest. It is not illegal to tell the truth. Perfectly reasonable to say Joe Blogs was an employee between XXX and when YYYY when we terminated his contract due to continued behavioral issues.

There are libel issues for giving false negative information, but as long as the information is correct then there are no retributions. Of course some companies would prefer not to have to defend themselves so will keep things quiet.


There is also a kind of secret code that is used to describe employees and by using choice terminology you can imply indirectly that the employee was not very good.Simple things like" XXX usually complied with deadlines" vs "XXX regularly completed tasks well ahead of schedule in a very efficient manner due to exceptional time management skills"
 
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