Are my old employers allowed to give this flaky reference?

[recipw]

It seems a bit unfair.

My potential new employer has requested a reference from my old workplace.I left there in June.

They have come back with 'x was employed here from this date to this date, however, can't comment on performance much as off on maternity related sick and maternity leave for a long duration'

Is there anything I can do about this?

Thank you

But I assume you'd acknowledge that if someone starts a post saying that they are an employment lawyer, and expresses an opinion, most people would assume it to be correct and knowledgeable? After all, most people who have an understanding of employment law or access to legal advice wouldn't be asking questions on here. So there may not be a professional duty to be accurate, but you'd expect a moral duty to be accurate? And not to swear at people correcting their false advice? After all, everyone else here had given advice based on their own understanding, without claiming to be an expert in employment law. For all anyone knows, half of the posters here are lawyers. But they didn't claim to be...

@Quveas on the internet anyone can be what they want.

I'm currently an octopus🐙....

Op said she left her job months before the offending reference though. So how could it have caused a breakdown in trust and confidence?

😁I think that was what I was trying to get at without saying I didn't believe someone. Unfortunately many people on the internet don't realise that.

Good luck with the legs - I have enough trouble managing two...