what to write on forms....

[layla2016]

I'm helping my sister with a massive work issue and we are stuck..

Basically she was sacked under alleged gross misconduct. It was completely ridiculous, falsified evidence, poor processes, all done so so wrong as they were a small business with no HR etc. it was a means to get rid of her and thought they would get away with it.

Just pre-employment tribunal they have effectively admitted they were wrong and want to settle out of court. Everything has been settled in agreeable terms except for this bit....she has 2 good agreed references but if they are asked 'has this person bed subjected to any disciplinary' they will say yes but she is allowed to contribute / agree to the written bit to explain what happened.

We are pretty sure this question is standard on references so will severely hinder her chances of getting a job again.

It could continue to ET if not agreed on but even if she wins, they will still tick the yes box as it has still happened albeit unfairly and the rest of the deal will be lost.

What on earth can we write to mitigate this disaster??!! She can't really explain much to a potential employer as she is gagged by the settlement.

I've never been through anything like this and it has certainly been an eye opener. Help pls!!

Her solicitor should be negotiating to remove that comment from the agreed reference in the first place. Normal procedure with a reference agreed as part of a settlement is that text is agreed and only that text will be provided, not hypothetical answers to hypothetical questions.

It was brought up as a question of what they would say given that it's the norm in her profession to ask the question on every reference pro forma and the arguing over it started from there.

She could just take the agreed reference but she would know that all future employers would ask that question about disciplinary process and immediately everyone would know it was an agreed reference straight away.

Her solicitor has tried to get them to drop it or agree that they would say no (as the process was flawed) but they won't. I think they think they will be liable to future employers maybe.

She has to come up with wording or they will after the fact.

Flowery sorry in addition, do you mean* that they should not have something in the agreement about what they will say or that they shouldn't comment when that question is asked? Sorry, I'm not following what you think should be removed?* Thanks.

In her profession, it is a standard question on all reference requests along with safeguarding.

No idea why that has just bolded!!

Why don't you have something like "yes but the company acknowledged the disciplinary action was unfounded and agreed to settle with the employee before tribunal". That appears to be what has happened and is factually correct.

I don't think they will acknowledge on paper that they were wrong. They sort of informally have. Worth a shot though!!

I mean that normal process is to agree wording that will be provided and not to answer additional questions, however I see that probably won't work in this case due to the nature of her role.

Ultimately it's a negotiation, and if agreement can't be reached, it will need to carry on to a tribunal as you say.

I have some sympathy with their concern about being liable. References must give an accurate impression of the candidate, and must not be misleadingly negative or positive. An example would be a retail employer who sacked someone for stealing giving a good reference to a future employer from whom the employee then also stole. A misleadingly positive reference could in that case result in liability for the first employer as the second employer had incurred loss as a result of relying on it.

That's an extreme example, but you see what I mean.