Q: What is an employment statement and what should be in it?
Sep 21 2007
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Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
I assume that this is a reference to what is rapidly replacing references rather than a statement of main particulars of employment.
Many employers do not take up employment references on employees from their previous employers. Many employers are unwilling to provide references even when asked. In the press a few months ago £200,000 was awarded to a female because of the failure of the ex-employer to provide a reference for her. In this particular case the woman in question had won an unfair dismissal claim and unlawful discrimination claim against her employer and had been awarded £7,000 in total as compensation.
The employer was not best pleased about this and, when reference enquiries had come in, responded in terms that ensured she was not offered employment by the potential employer. This led to one job offer being withdrawn following receipt of the reference.
Once she discovered this activity she returned to tribunal claiming ongoing discrimination. The tribunal agreed with her and awarded £200,000. That award gave rise to a common misconception that an employer’s refusal to provide a reference will mean a huge award at tribunal.
Not so – it only applies in the specific circumstances of ongoing discrimination.
If an employer provides a reference it must not only be true in the parts but in the sum of the parts. This means you cannot write good things thus creating an overall impression of an excellent employee when omissions regarding, for example, dismissal for theft would have created a quite opposite impression, had they been included.
Employment statements such as the one below are pretty much the least that could be said by an ex-employer. They do not contain comments of “good” or “bad” and thus cannot be the subject of litigation later.
“Mr X worked for us from (?) to (?) carrying out the duties of a warehouseman”
It should be noted that the rules for employers in the care and financial services industries are different. There are explicit rules that apply to the provision of, and checking of, references in these two industries.
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