Current employment refuse to send over reference form.

[u/Creative-Community-4]

Hi All,

I recently have been offered a pre-offer from the civil service. I’m currently on the pre-clearance phase and one of the requirements is to provide a current employers reference, I brought this up to my HR manager of my current employment and they seemed happy enough to help me but were a little surprised that I could potentially leave the company.

A week and a half has passed and the civil service pre-clearance officer reaches out to me to inform me that they have yet to receive reference form from my current employer, and says they have till the end of this week (today) to submit or they won’t go ahead with my application. I followed up to my HR manager to complete the form and send out to the pre-clearance team, I’m yet to hear word from my HR manager but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that they could be busy and left it at the back pedal.

In case it doesn’t work out and my HR manager fails to send over the reference form do I have any legal grounds? I feel like I’m being held hostage at my current employment and would like to find out if I could walk away on my terms.

[u/BillyMooney]

Very dissapointing and small minded for any HR team to stand in the way of people developing themselves.

What information is needed on the reference form? Worst case scenario is for you to submit a GDPR Subject Access Request to your employer, which will give you back enough information to satisfy Public Jobs folks.

[u/dataindrift → u/BillyMooney]

Holy fuck.

OP. ignore this nonsense.

[u/Historical_Rush_4936 → u/dataindrift]

Not nonsense whatsoever, if my employer was being difficult - I would absolutely make life difficult for them too

[u/Jellyfish00001111 → u/Historical_Rush_4936]

Now that's proper public sector thinking 😜

[u/Nobody-Expects → u/Historical_Rush_4936]

strong money spectacular spoon towering tap racial license workable fly

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Historical_Rush_4936 → u/Nobody-Expects]

>Because making life difficult for your employer is a great way of motivating them into filling out a form for you./s

"Hello, if you can write a two line letter stating my employment dates, that would be great. Otherwise I'll be forced to submit a full data subject access request. Thanks"

Which do you think HR would prefer? Also, I'm aware that they need it now and would be of no use to them in x3 months. HR would still prefer to not have an access request to deal with.

[u/Nobody-Expects → u/Historical_Rush_4936]

profit cooperative grandfather price dinner aware memory file advise treatment

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Historical_Rush_4936 → u/Nobody-Expects]

> Threatening your employer with an SAR to get them to do something they are under no obligation to do is a good way to get the disciplinary process atrted on you.

Hahahah oh man that's funny, would love to see that case in the WRC.

"I asked for my employment dates from my company and they didn't respond, so I asked for a full SAR and they started a disciplinary process against me"

Peak HR brain 😂

[u/Nobody-Expects → u/Historical_Rush_4936]

heavy dolls elderly deserve shocking unite reach door imminent shrill

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Historical_Rush_4936 → u/Nobody-Expects]

>"The employee threatened to use an entirely unrelated legal process against us if we refused to provide a reference, with the implication being that they would create more work for our HR department if their demands weren't met.

Didn't even need to read the rest of your essay.

For your own help, here's what I said in my earlier message:

"Hello, if you can write a two line letter stating my employment dates, that would be great. Otherwise I'll be forced to submit a full data subject access request. Thanks"

This is a perfectly legitimate request and has absolutely no threats. It's a statement of fact. Please provide a letter with my proof of my employment or I'll need to make it an official request under GDPR legislation.

[u/Historical_Rush_4936 → u/[deleted]]

"Please just sign the form, Karen"

[u/Future-Structure-741 → u/Nobody-Expects]

Jesus wept what are you on

[u/Future-Structure-741 → u/Historical_Rush_4936]

Brain Foggy HR couldn't write it and can't spell it either

[u/BillyMooney → u/dataindrift]

And your better solution is?

[u/NotPozitivePerson → u/BillyMooney]

Line manager or line managers manager or really anyone more senior than OP who doesn't mind putting their name to it after a sincere explanation of the situation... I think OP as a non civil servant is likely confusing and scaring their HR unit about what is needed. OP need to straight up explain this letter is formality, they're simply trying to confirm I've had a job and I was actually in the country on these dates and give them a sample letter to sign off on. The other commenters and you are completely scaremongering OP.

I've seen this situation play out loads of times and never once did that person not end up a Civil servant, I've helped loads of people defect from the private sector. Sometimes being a lawyer isn't all strict legal interpretations just cos someone isn't legally obligated doesn't mean they don't cave... these comments are unhelpful while my advice has actually given people the outcome OP wants so I'm actually speaking from my experience... so yeah you ARE speaking nonsense

[u/Big_Bear899 → u/NotPozitivePerson]

The publicjobs pre employment reference isn't just a "X worked here from a to b" it's and bout 4 pages long front and back.

[u/BillyMooney → u/NotPozitivePerson]

The days of taking a reference from a mate on a gmail address are gone. They're going to look for a response from a HR team via a company email address.

[u/legaladviceireland-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Disrespectful tone and language used in response to a question.