Help with an Employer Withdrawing Offer

stickyfingers

Hi Guys,

I need some help here and hope you point me in the right direction. I was offered a job by a company in dublin on 23rd of August 2010 and was due to start on Wednesday 8th of September 2010. But I recieved a phone call from the new employers to say they were withdrawing there offer of employment due to a previous employer refusing to give a reference. When I spoke to the Hr Manager and asked who refused to give the reference she said it was confidental and would not tell me. At this stage I was so shocked and disappointed that I said I would involve a solicitor if she would not give me the information I required.

I have spoken to a friend of mine who is a Hr Manager himself and informed me to get in contact with the Hr manager again and state that I am entitled to find out who refused to give me a reference.

I am also going to speak to the Labour Relations Committee and Department of trade and employment to see what rights I have after they signed the copy of the contract and I signed it aswell and returned it to them.

Anything else I need to do.

Thanks

PT FTO

Even if they have signed a contract it will sate within it i'm sure that it is on the basis that all background and reference checks come back good. As they didn't te contarct becomes null/void. So because of this I don't think you will get anywhere with the new company.
I would follow up with your previous employer as to why they refused a reference, but again they are not obliged to. A lot of companies these days will not give references anymore, just a statement that you did indeed work there.
Sorry, not a lot of help I know. Best of luck with any proceedings you take

MonkeyBone

PT FTO wrote: »

Even if they have signed a contract it will sate within it i'm sure that it is on the basis that all background and reference checks come back good. As they didn't te contarct becomes null/void. So because of this I don't think you will get anywhere with the new company.
I would follow up with your previous employer as to why they refused a reference, but again they are not obliged to. A lot of companies these days will not give references anymore, just a statement that you did indeed work there.
Sorry, not a lot of help I know. Best of luck with any proceedings you take

Correct!

A similar thing happened to me earlier this year when my previous employer (a WPP1) refused to give a more detailed reference but gave a generic worked from month A - month B. Apparently (for WPPs) this is common and this was stated to me by a work placement officer. my previous employer didn't maliciously do this but they were to busy to basically give a toss and gave a generic one instead and it was to late to pursue they initial job by the time I got it sorted. As mentioned by the previous poster, the company has the right to withdraw the offer if it was stated that references coming good were outlined in the initial offer etc...

I hope you have better luck then me and get this sorted ASAP

3DataModem

stickyfingers wrote: »

I am also going to speak to the Labour Relations Committee and Department of trade and employment to see what rights I have after they signed the copy of the contract and I signed it aswell and returned it to them.

Anything else I need to do.

Thanks

What are you hoping will happen?
- new employer will relent and give you job?
- sue old employer for damages?
- ???

You are unlucky, but there is nothing useful you can do here except find out which employer is giving no reference (if this in fact is true) so you can avoid giving them as reference in future.

Berty

3DataModem wrote: »

What are you hoping will happen?

Im sure the OP is looking for some vindication. So the new employer is not going to hire them and certainly wont after this but the point is to get some satisfaction from them.

Who refused the reference?
Why?

Frankly, its a bit rude of them not to tell him. I suspect its something else and the reference is just a cover story that could now blow up in their face.

Eoin

stickyfingers wrote:

I am also going to speak to the Labour Relations Committee and Department of trade and employment to see what rights I have after they signed the copy of the contract and I signed it aswell and returned it to them.

Best case scenario, they have to pay you the notice period - which will probably be quite short if it's a standard contract that specifies a probationary period. Worse case, the offer will be subject to references as has been mentioned.

stickyfingers wrote:

At this stage I was so shocked and disappointed that I said I would involve a solicitor if she would not give me the information I required.

There is no legal entitlement to a reference, and I don't know what you're going to gain by finding out the name of a person who didn't give one.

I know you're shocked, but do you think that taking legal action against both your new and old employer is really a good course of action? The reason why some companies hate giving references is because they're worried about the potential for legal action. Perhaps they guessed (correctly) that you would have no problem calling in the solicitors. Also, Ireland is a small country. If people get wind of this, what company is going to touch you?

You should always have your referees lined up, so you can give the name and contact number of the person you want recommending you.

eoin

eoin wrote: »

There is no legal entitlement to a reference, and I don't know what you're going to gain by finding out the name of a person who didn't give one.

Personally I would want to know who it was so that I don't ever put them down as a referee again... but then you should have your referees lined up anyway so in theory you should know if they would have a problem

Eoin

bluewolf wrote: »

Personally I would want to know who it was so that I don't ever put them down as a referee again... but then you should have your referees lined up anyway so in theory you should know if they would have a problem

Exactly - if you gave the name of the referee to the new employer, then you should know who didn't give a reference. Unless you just told them to ring the company.

I ring my referees when I get an offer to let them know they'll get a call over the next few days.

TheBlock

Bad form on the part of the new employer. Surely refernces should be checked before extending a job offer? What if the OP had handed in notice to present employer on the back of the contrcat offer only to have it pulled at the last minute?

stickyfingers

Hi Guy,

Just an update to my op I have spoken to the National Employment Rights Organisation and the Data Commissioner and they could not help me out and told me to consult with a solicitor in relation to this issue. I have spoken to a Employment Law firm to see where I stand. I don't want the job anymore but want to know why withdraw the offer of employment at the last minute.

I am so disappointed I was asked to provide my employment history for the past five years which I did and when I asked who refused to give the reference they refused to tell me saying it was confidential.

Thanks for all your help guys and let you know what the solicitor says when he calls me back.

Eoin

TheBlock wrote: »

Bad form on the part of the new employer. Surely refernces should be checked before extending a job offer? What if the OP had handed in notice to present employer on the back of the contrcat offer only to have it pulled at the last minute?

Nearly all offers are made subject to a reference. I wouldn't give someone my referee details without an offer. This is why you need to line up your referees so you know what they're going to say.

I appreciate that sometimes your referee might be the boss to whom you need to hand your notice into, and therefore can't ask for a reference in advance. But in that case you'd know who wouldn't give you the reference.