Bad job reference - Disability

[BeEagerCyanWasp]

Can ex-employers give details about disabilities? Can they give details of any abcences as a result of disabilities? Can they give any details about disabilities at all? Can they infer, generalise or fail to recommend you based on opinions that have been formed based on disabilities?

I though they couldn't do this under discrimination law and that there is a lot of case law to support this.

I have an ex-employer who is doing this verbally after a written reference, that has resulted 2 job offers being withdrawn.

I have an impecable work record with 'glowing' references from all of my employers except one.

I have a disability and last year there was a short supply of my medication and I couldn't access it. It really affected me and my work for a very short period. Less than 20 days.

But my then boss was really hard about it, put me through HR and even got me to ask my GP to change my MED3 note to a different diagnosis so that it would be covered under their insurance. My GP said no.

Now they are giving me a bad reference and in particular phoning my prosepctive new employers to tell that they wouldn't recommend me.

Apart from this absence my work at this position was always highly professional, timely and went above and beyond. There were no disciplinarians, performance management, warning (verbal or written) and all of my work during the employment was well regarded.

I've now been out of work for 5 months as a result of the bad reference, even though I've had 2 solid job offers, that were ultimately withdrawn.

Unfortunatey I work in a regulated industry, so this ex-employer has to give a reference.

Is this legal?

In my industry it is standard practise to confirm with a telephone call, or at least that is what the policies say where I have worked.

It’s insurance to cover the costs of sickness.

Lots of schools have it, financial companies (including my current one), charitable sector……….

Insurance very unusual now for schools. Costs were far too high.

My understanding, and I am not HR or a lawyer, is that decisions around suitability for a job should not be affected by consideration of disability related absence, and must be backed up by other evidence, eg appraisal, and both the previous employer and potential employer need to make that distinction.

I am HR and you’re wrong, up to a point.

Have certainly withdrawn offers for candidates that had excessive recent sickness absence which could not have been accommodated, even after a discussion about reasonable adjustments.

Eg, had a year off due to cancer treatment, now all clear and apart from check ups, no increased likelihood of absense. Would continue recruitment.

v

195 days off in last 18 months. All periods of less than 1 month, unplanned, no changes in treatment or management to reduce future sickness absence. Would not continue recruitment.

Agreed, but one period of 18 days due to medication shortage and an overreaction from a manager?

The point is it depends on exactly what has been said and how much of what has been said that has been influenced by knowledge of a disability and how much of what has been said in the reference is counter to the real experience (in my case, apart from that short period, no other issues).

Due to unfair data protection exemptions, I have no access to the full information or references.

Lots of case law around this though.

Schools most certainly do have insurance to cover sickness and maternity leave

Sadly, to use the case law you need a case.

Well quite, but if it went to conciliation or even tribunal the information would be ordered to be released.

There is enough evidence already to show that whatever was contained in the verbal reference is inaccurate and misleading.

I’m not necessarily interested in taking it to tribunal, although it would be nice to be compensated for being out of work for the last few months. Ultimately I just want it to stop so that I can continue with my career.

Might be worth raising conciliation.

Interesting. I've worked in all those industries and education as the OP mentioned and never been aware of it. I wonder if we're talking at cross purposes. Do you think they mean permanent health insurance? Or group income protection? Both are the same thing, just different names.

These are to cover sick pay after, usually, six months or when it runs out (maybe 12m). They are not designed to buy in cover specifically. Also, it's not as simple as x is covered, y is not. They need lots of assessments about ability to work in the particular role, and they take months to claim on, not twenty days.

I suspect the manager who mentioned it to the OP had a very limited understanding of what the insurance is!

It’s a specific kind of insurance to cover staff absence.

www.towergateinsurance.co.uk/care-and-medical/product/staff-absence-insurance?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=320817087&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD8fa9HVcJIZuxyZyRc3kbgM20lH4&gclid=Cj0KCQiAx9q6BhCDARIsACwUxu4QQfQ8CghNBFkKb2XIB7AARcgL830A4BZaDtI0kUwldTfqdbGe6HIaAvNTEALw_wcB

Some schools definitely have this type of insurance and it isn't permanent health insurance or group income protection. As a school governor, we had to decide what level of cover to take, for example , whether to cover the first week or two internally before the insurance kicked in.

Schools run really lean and don't have the option of not covering a teacher somehow. Without insurance, particularly in a smaller school, a month or two of sickness would be a disaster.

Are you planning on phoning HR from old company?

Surely rarely would any company make an insurance claim, only when a very long extended employee absence, rather than a few days here and there by employees.

reqd the list above yours, and maybe even the link I’ve listed.

both schools that I am a governor on have it and use it.