Employer requesting unreasonable information about employment history

Yucca

Yucca

Yucca

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Joined
20 Nov 2004
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Location
Nock/Leicester
Hi all,

Iv put this in GD rather than 'Careers' as its more a general question.

My wife's started a new job and the employer is asking her to provide bank statements showing her salary payments from her last employer. Apparently this is needed to confirm her start date at that job.

Her previous job was from August 2017 to December 2017 and then she started her new role with her current employer. Prior to her previous job she had a one year career break.

Surly it is not common practice for employers to require 'evidence' of your previous employment start date in such a way?

Has anyone else been asked to provide evidence of previous employments and start dates/salary etc?
 
Yup. Have has this for current role as part of the process.

Evidence that I was paid by the company while employed there.
 
rexehuk said:
Yup. Have has this for current role as part of the process.

Evidence that I was paid by the company while employed there.
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Do mind if I ask where you work, or what sector? Requesting bank statements seems very personal to me.

What did you provide?
 
That does seem to be more than the usual requested information.

I would suggest photocopying the statement, then blanking out everything apart from her name and the date and company name paying her previously - including the amount paid - with a marker pen. Then photocopy the blanked out statement, just to make sure they can't gain any additional information from it
 
As above surely this is what payslips are for, that will reveal only earnings and not your private banking matters.
 
rexehuk said:
Evidence that I was paid by the company while employed there.
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why would they need such a thing?
I don't see what purpose it solves
Did she lie about her salary to try and get more at her current place?
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Why would that even matter? your salary isn't based on what your previous employer paid

Prior to her previous job she had a one year career break.
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google suggests some companies request this if you have had a career break to check if you were working but omitted it from your CV

but it seems in this case it's not what they are trying to do
 
She is able to provide a reference from her previous employer confirming her start date and end date and job title but he is away on holiday for a week. The new employer has therefore asked for bank statements instead which to me seems strange.

A number of people have said payslips. Surly no one provides payslips to new employers?! How many would you provide?! The last 3 months or all of them? What if you were with your previous employer for a number of years?!

And P45 does not show start date.
 
As above usually P45s and P60s covering the relevant dates will be enough for that.

A lot of companies don't even bother with references any more - neither of mine have been contacted by any of the last 3 companies I've worked for :s
 
^Many employers will not give a real reference nowadays other than to confirm the dates someone was employed.

Yucca said:
A number of people have said payslips. Surly no one provides payslips to new employers?! How many would you provide?! The last 3 months or all of them? What if you were with your previous employer for a number of years?!
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I'd imagine only recent ones, but then I've never been asked to provide anything like this to a prospective employer. Had I been asked though I'd be happier supplying recent payslips than bank statements.​
 
I have asked several friends who have all had several jobs in recent years what their application process was like. Most were asked to provide reference details i.e. someone at their previous company that could be contacted. And most were asked to provide a P45. But not a single one has ever been asked to provide bank statements or actual 'proof' of start date with previous employer.
 
Yucca said:
I have asked several friends who have all had several jobs in recent years what their application process was like. Most were asked to provide reference details i.e. someone at their previous company that could be contacted. And most were asked to provide a P45. But not a single one has ever been asked to provide bank statements or actual 'proof' of start date with previous employer.
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This is how it has always worked for me. Seems wrong to me a company asking to see bank statements.
 
has the previous employer refused a reference or gone bust?

The simple way to confirm this is with a reference from the old company though you don't clear this up for us in the OP - why is this not sufficient for them or not able to be presented to them?

The next could be pay statements

your bank statement on the other hand contains additional information they don't necessarily need to see - it does seem odd though there might be some reason for them suggesting it such as her not being able to provide confirmation via the former employer... unless you're going to comment on that then we're sort of in the dark here

arknor said:
Why would that even matter? your salary isn't based on what your previous employer paid
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LOL - I wouldn't be so sure of that unfortunately
 
arknor said:
Why would that even matter? your salary isn't based on what your previous employer paid
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Except it is. I know of firms who have dismissed new starters if they then found out they lied about how much they were being paid at the previous company.
 
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