Employment Reference

[Theland]

What redress does a person have, if trying to get a new job, their previous employer gives a bad reference without just cause?

[fourteen85]

Just out of interest, if the daughter who is now on benefits went to court and won compensation would the benefts then have to be paid back and would they cease to be paid in the future?

[pixie373]

I think they might stop paying if she won enough compensation. I can't see them taking any money back, because she was entitled to it at the time. However, i don't think she'd receive compensation, as the meds error involved a Controlled Drug, which needs two people to sign for, so is hard to get wrong and there were allegedly other problems, too (from previous thread).

[EDDIE51]

fourteen85, if the benefits are contribution based JSA the they continue for 26 weeks regardless of how much money the person has as long as they 'signing on'. If the daughter wins compensation then that will need to be taken into account when / if she has to claim income based benefit.

[Peter Pedant]

I was trying to find the ICO advice that if an employer is investigating and employee they must still respond (context free) to data requests ? any ideas anyone,
anyway in my search, I found this:
Q: Can I see my employment reference?

To request a copy of your reference you need to make the request to the employer the reference was sent to. You should make a subject access request in writing. They will then consider if any exemptions apply and if they can release this information to you. If you make the request to the employer responsible for providing the reference it is unlikely you will get a copy, as they are not obliged to provide this under the Act.
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[Eve]

There are provisions which, depending on the compensation, can allow for clawback of benefits paid. For example, if an award is made for loss of earnings, it means the benefit claimant cannot benefit from both that and receipt of benefits at the same time, part of the award at least likely to be retrospective.

Unless anything has changed very recently, it is also not a given that legal costs can be claimed back by the winning party, they can be applied for but it is at the discretion of the Tribunal and it not common.