Can employer refuse a reference?

Please Kill Me

I was working for a particular company (won't mention the name, just in case, they're WELL known!) for nearly three years. It was a highly demanding and thankless job. I was having a lot of personal issues over the course of the year too, which didn't help. Anyway, from about February to May/June, there wasn't a week went by where there wasn't words with the manager. I was the asst. manager but was treated like a dog. One "for instance" was when my fiancee was pregnant. It was getting near her time and she had three false alarms before eventually on the 4th rush to the hospital, having our baby. The grief I got was unreal - "you can't be just swanning off, you're needed here, it's not my fault she's not going on time...." I wanted to just punch the guy!

Anyway, it got to the stage where I was having pains in my chest, tired due to not sleeping, just generally feeling unwell. I went to the doc who diagnosed me with depression, stress and exhaustion. He took me out of work for three weeks, putting me on amitriptyline. He also suggested for my health and sanity to change my circumstances.

So after discussing it with herself for the three weeks I was off sick, we decided for my sake and the baby's sake, to just call it a day. I went back and gave seven week's notice (which I think is more than fair). They accepted it and I finished up at the end of July. I've spent every day with our new baby since then, bonding with her, relaxing, getting my energy levels back up and basically getting my head back together again.

I've recently started looking for jobs again and thought I'd buzz my manager (out of courtesy) and see if he'd mind if I gave his name as a reference. He said no!! :mad:

So, can they do that? Can they refuse? I'm raging here!!!!

Owen

They are obliged to give a statement of employment, but not necessarily a character reference.

ScouseMouse

Tread carefully here.

If you demand a reference which he doesnt want to give, you could get something you dont want.


I used to work with a pain in the ass who wound everyone up. Then he single handedly tried to get the entire staff to join his union. No one was interested.

Reference time came and it went:

Paddy worked here for ten years and his performance with satisfactory.

It was completely legal, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Is there anyone else in the company who can sort you out?

Please Kill Me

superscouse wrote: »

Is there anyone else in the company who can sort you out?

Possibly, she worked in Personnel when I was there and is doing a management trainee thingie at the moment. I was gonna ask the Chief Financial Officer as I got on really well with him and he was my manager's manager, but I reckon he'd be a bit too busy to bother with something like this.

ScouseMouse

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Possibly, she worked in Personnel when I was there and is doing a management trainee thingie at the moment. I was gonna ask the Chief Financial Officer as I got on really well with him and he was my manager's manager, but I reckon he'd be a bit too busy to bother with something like this.

I think you should go this way.

Circumvent the other manager.

Please Kill Me

superscouse wrote: »

I think you should go this way.

Circumvent the other manager.

Yeah, I reckon that's all I can do. What a petty f**ker though, eh? :rolleyes:

Thanks!

Irish_Elect_Eng

Please Kill Me wrote: »

I've recently started looking for jobs again and thought I'd buzz my manager (out of courtesy) and see if he'd mind if I gave his name as a reference. He said no!! :mad:
!

I would not be mad, I would be very happy that he was honest with you!

It is far better to have a referee refuse to give a reference and to know that you will get a bad one from him than unknowing have him giving the reference to everyone that called him. A close shave but you got lucky.

Any job seeker should not put down a referee without knowing exactly what they are going to say about you when asked. The key question that will make or break your reference is "Would your re-hire the candidate" if you think that the answer might be no then that reference is useless.

LegacyUser

You did the right thing in leaving that job as your health and happiness is more important.
I had a similar problem a few years ago. I was given notice that my contact was not been extended. My boss at the time had great pleasure in telling me that my reference would be poor due to my so called lack of ability.
I found someone else in the company to give me a reference as they knew I was getting a raw deal as this department had major staff problems.
Enjoy the time with your new baby and good luck with the job hunting.

Please Kill Me

Irish_Elect_Eng wrote: »

It is far better to have a referee refuse to give a reference and to know that you will get a bad one from him than unknowing have him giving the reference to everyone that called him. A close shave but you got lucky.

I never thought of it that way. And he's the type of small minded, petty arsehole who would do just that! Cheers.

wise woman wrote: »

You did the right thing in leaving that job as your health and happiness is more important.
I had a similar problem a few years ago. I was given notice that my contact was not been extended. My boss at the time had great pleasure in telling me that my reference would be poor due to my so called lack of ability.
I found someone else in the company to give me a reference as they knew I was getting a raw deal as this department had major staff problems.
Enjoy the time with your new baby and good luck with the job hunting.

Thank you!! Best thing I ever did TBH, I'm so close with my baby girl now, and no money could compensate for the smile on her face every morning when I go into her.

Chessala

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Thank you!! Best thing I ever did TBH, I'm so close with my baby girl now, and no money could compensate for the smile on her face every morning when I go into her.

I agree, your health would have just suffered more and more there and you got luky with not getting a ref from the guy!

Slightly off topic....call me touchy but you really should reword the last part of your sentence. I know how it's meant but....bad BAD image ....

sarahbro

I worked for a well known clothing shop for 3 years and their policy is no reference. If anyone rang looking for one the management could only confirm that the person had worked there

Spunk84

sarahbro wrote: »

I worked for a well known clothing shop for 3 years and their policy is no reference. If anyone rang looking for one the management could only confirm that the person had worked there

most major companies these days will only state that you worked there from X date to X date. Could be a good thing thou if you didn't get on well with the last employer

Angelandie

Yes, they can refuse to give u a reference. They are not allowed to give a bad reference. Most companies will refuse to actually give a reference, most will ask for an email/fax with a list of questions that they will answer and return. Ask someone who was above you in relation to the management structure in your old job, even if they can't give you an official reference they might write you a character reference. Best of luck!

Eoin

Angelandie wrote: »

Yes, they can refuse to give u a reference. They are not allowed to give a bad reference. Most companies will refuse to actually give a reference, most will ask for an email/fax with a list of questions that they will answer and return. Ask someone who was above you in relation to the management structure in your old job, even if they can't give you an official reference they might write you a character reference. Best of luck!

They are allowed give a bad reference.

They would want to be able to back it up from a legal point of view, but they can give one if they want.

Most companies are more likely to give the start date, end date and job title. I've never heard of a questionnaire being sent or requested.

Angelandie

Eoin wrote: »

Most companies are more likely to give the start date, end date and job title. I've never heard of a questionnaire being sent or requested.

I worked for a large international company for 3 years and that was the only way we were allowed to give references. Also was the same when I worked for a small family run business. The reasoning was something like having a set of questions gave them a guideline for answering and helped keep the reference objective. But that's just been my experience

Chinafoot

Eoin wrote: »

I've never heard of a questionnaire being sent or requested.

I work for Fingal County Council and they sent a questionnaire to my former employer.

Eoin

Fair enough; the places I worked in would be quite hesitant going into that much detail. The references I did get were unofficial.