Employer refusing to give reference

[gigglet]

DH has been offered a fantastic new job. Problem is, his previous employer is incredibly childish and vindictive, and is now refusing to give a reference. He wont get the job if he doesn't have references from management for the last 10 years of employment.

He hinted at doing this to another employee who quit so its no surprise really. In fact DH warned the people doing the reference check he might be difficult, but they contacted him anyway.

From what I can tell, there is nothing he can do, but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of this.

Many firms will only confirm an employee worked for them, the pay and the position.

Your DH should ask if they will do that.

Hmm, ok, I'll get him to see if he can find out what information they actually need.

The most annoying bit is he can get stellar references from fellow employees, its just this damn manager!

Does his old company have a HR department? If so, the new employer could contact them to confirm factual information like start/end dates, reason for leaving, absence history, whether your DH had been subject to disciplinary action.

Nope, they are a very small company and the new employer only want to speak to someone he reported to.

Has the new employer actually phoned and asked to speak tot he old employer - he may find it bit harder to say no Im not giving him a reference because the new employer will say well why?
Old employer will just look stupid!

Yep, it was over the phone. He said "it is company policy to not give out references". This just happens to be a brand new company policy. DH is also hearing about things from the other employees, some of which are now looking to get out fast!

This is commonplace in the City and it is not vindictive. A lot of employers will not give anything more than basic references 'as company policy'.

It is for legal reasons. A reference that is anything less than glowing can be construed as libel if it leads to a job offer being withdrawn.

TBH I think the new employer should just be willing to accept a former employer has company policy. Could DH get a reference form customers, colleagues, etc?

Trust me, he's doing it to be vindictive.

That is interesting, though, that its common occurrence in the city. This can't be the first time they've come across this situation then, so there must be a way around it. He can easily get references from several other sources, its just that the reference check company only seem to want to speak to a manager.

The reference check company will report back to the new employer. It is up to the new employer to decide if they really need the reference.

Could your DH intervene in the process and contact the new employer and tell them the company policy at his former employer and ask if they will accept a reference form soeone else.

In effect his former employer is attemting to imprison him in his job. It sounds like the former employer is heamoraging staff.

Make it up. Give them a mobile number and tell them that this is x at y company.

90% of references are never checked they just want to see if you'll provide the information.

My dh had a job offer withdrawn because his employer had a company policy of only providing minimal info such as job title and dates. Really crap. I think the new employer imagined there must have been a bad reason for it, but it was genuinely company policy, other people who left had the same problem.

Is this right? A company can refuse to give a reference? I thought that was illegal? (naive emoticon)

if a company withdraws job offer on basis of no reference from the past employer they don't know the law
no company is obliged to provide references
that's why companies ask for personal references from a professional etc

My husband's employer (a major international household name) does not give references. They just state employment dates and current salary. I think this is fairly common. There is nothing you can do to bend them on this.

An alternative is to get a personal reference from a colleague, with them making it clear that it is personal rather than official. That's what I did when I moved from a non-reference giving company to one that needed a detailed reference. It wasn't a problem as far as I could tell.

I work in professional services and we never ever give references for fear of being sued. All we will ever say is that X was employed between A and B years as a XXXXX and may add in that they took Y sick days in that time. Nothing else for fear of being sued

God I really must start reading what I've written before I post

This happened to me once. I couldn't believe it. The man just didn't like me which was the reason I found myself a new job, and then the woman in HR just said 'oh yeah when Mike K... doesn't like you you're on a sticky wicket". HUH???? I kept ringing up the HR woman and she went back to MK a couple of times and the reference was eventually changed from x smith worked here to x smith worked here and and was never late and never off sick, which was the truth and I more or less insisted taht they put something positive in the reference. It made me look like a thick bitch though. Grrrrr that man.

Old style 'character references' are not given, for the reasons set out above - so it's perfectly possible/reasonable to have a company policy to this effect.

The reference check company will just be following a proscribed process, and will have no discretion as to how to respond to this - they will simply present their findings back to the Company, where HR and/or the employing manager will have to decide what to do - or that may even be set out for them in any kind of policy they have on the subject.

Confirmation of factual dates/job title/salary should be enough for the new comapny, along with a personal reference, if they wish.

One thing you should categorically not do is 'make it up.' If the new company are using a ref check company, they are sufficiently interested in what is coming back...Lying never makes a good impression: it may not be that the lie itself is sufficiently serious to warrant any action, rather the implications for future behaviour (ie if he has lied about this, what else will he lie about). I have terminated contracts for lies that have been uncovered during ref checks...and your DH would not want any reference from that company including dismissal as a reason for leaving!!
(I work in HR, btw)

I find this all very odd. DS has been waiting for around 6 weeks for a reference from a previous employer - he already has the job offer but this is holding up everything.

In fact he's driven over there now to see if he can get it written. Apparently it's just a form that needs completing and emailing back to the HR dept so I don't understand why the person concerned hasn't done it.

Worried mum emoticon!!

Is it possible to get even just the dates, title and salary out of them? Or are they not even required to give that?

All sorted!

She just needed two places to give character references and she did manage to get dates out of the difficult one. All DH's other former work places won't be a problem so the two references should be fine now.

Thanks for all your help!

That is brilliant. Really glad to hear it.

I suspect these job reference companies often have this problem.