Our Employment Law solicitors have heard it time and time again that “a bad reference cost me a job” and that a previous employer gave an untrue reference. When it comes to false references in UK employment law, you can take a number of routes to begin the claims process.
It’s not entirely uncommon for an ex-employee to be provided with a bad reference from their previous employer that contains false or incorrect/inaccurate information. If you have found yourself in this situation, you may wish to try to contact your previous employer to see if you can reach an agreement. Ask what will be included in any future references they send out and point out the inaccuracies in any references they have provided to date asking them politely not to send that out again.
If you suffer any monetary loss or damage as a result of having a reference that contains inaccurate information, then there could be grounds for a negligence claim.
You must, however, be able to prove that the information contained in the reference is misleading or untrue and either has impacted your ability to get a new job, or it may harm your future prospects. You will also have to prove that your former employer didn’t take reasonable care when preparing the reference.
This is a civil claim brought in the County or High Court not an Employment Tribunal claim, therefore our team of Employment Tribunal Solicitors are unable to deal with it.
Our expert solicitors can assist you with an employment tribunal claim.
Your previous employer may be acting unfairly if the reason you received a poor reference is because of one of the “protected characteristics” outlined in the Equality Act 2010. This can be race, sex, sexual orientation, or disability, for example. If you received a poor reference because of this, you may have grounds for a claim for Direct Discrimination in the Employment Tribunal.
Also, under the Equality Act, you may also be able to make a claim if your employer or former employer has given a bad reference as an act of Victimisation because you did what is called “a protected act”. This includes: (1) bringing a claim under the Equality Act 2010; (2) giving evidence or information in connection with proceedings under the Equality Act 2010; (3) done any other thing for the purposes of or in connection with the Equality Act 2010 or (4) made an allegation that your employer or former employer have contravened the Equality Act.
These are claims brought before an Employment Tribunal and we can assist with these types of claims. Call us on 0800 612 9509 or fill in one of our contact forms and we will get back to you.
Defamation, also referred to as slander or libel, is the act of damaging the reputation of someone. This can be said about incorrect or false statements contained within your reference.
Defamation claims are difficult to prove and largely depend on the circumstances surrounding the claim. You must prove that your employer provided a poor or false reference with malicious intent. If the reference was provided without malice and your employer believed the contents of the reference to be true (even if they are untrue), then they can’t be successfully sued for defamation.
If your claim for defamation is, however, successful, you could be entitled to compensation for financial loss and emotional distress.
Please note that this is a civil claim, not an Employment Tribunal claim. We do not deal with these types of claims.
An employer is under no legal obligation to give a former employee a job reference at all. Therefore, if your employer refuses to give a reference, they are well within their rights to not provide you with one.
However, if they do provide a reference, they are under a legal duty to not give a false reference. This is why many employers only provide factual references stating the name, job title and dates of employment. They do this in order to avoid being held liable for any inaccurate more detailed job references.
If your employer provides an inaccurate or negligent job reference, you can sue them to recover damages. This claim would be brought in the County Court, NOT the Employment Tribunal.
In order for the claim to be successful, you must have suffered a financial loss. An example of this would be if you failed to get a new job because of the bad reference and subsequently lost the income that your new job would have provided.
This claim would be brought in the County Court, note the Employment Tribunal, therefore we are unable to assist with this. Legal Aid may be available to assist you to pursue such a claim.
Before any claim can be brought forward, you need to obtain a copy of the offending reference or the detail of an oral one.
You may wish to make a Data Protection Act or Subject Access Request to secure this information from either the provider of the reference or the recipient. More information can be obtained from the ICO website. Though, this has been made all the more difficult by virtue of a change in the law which suggests that references are not disclosable.
Our law firm can deal with any Employment Tribunal Claims.
If you have been a victim of discrimination or victimisation or been wrongfully or unfairly dismissed, please don’t hesitate to contact our team.
Not sure if you have a valid claim? Make sure to read our free referencing guide which provides a brief overview of the most common areas of employment law to help you decide if your claim is valid.
Call us on 0800 612 9509 or email: dean@morrislegal.co.uk. Alternatively, you can complete one of our contact forms.
If you are looking for a No Win Fee Employment Law Solicitor to represent you, we need to assess the merits of your potential claim which we are normally happy to do free of charge.
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