Out of the blue and after 8 years working in the same company my employer is asking for references for two employers from the past.
Can they do that?
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3That is definitely very strange. Did you ask why they need this information? Where are you located? – David K Aug 29 '19 at 18:12
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Oxford, Uk. They claim that they didn't do it before... – Elena Palomo Aug 29 '19 at 18:15
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plus I am basically 20 days left to be reduced and loose the job – Elena Palomo Aug 29 '19 at 18:17
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No really, My last day is the 25th of September and I don't think they will change their mind ;) – Elena Palomo Aug 29 '19 at 19:00
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8@ElenaPalomo You say you are already planned to be terminated? That's probably very relevant - could you add the details to your post? – David K Aug 29 '19 at 19:08
An employer can do anything which isn't forbade by law or contractual agreement.
In your situation, you are about to be made redundant for reasons which you haven't given. This makes the request for references all the more strange as the primary reason one asks for references is to determine if a potential candidate is trustworthy or qualified. The other reasons are associated with such things as security clearance or background investigations, or potentially when you're being promoted into a role where references might be more critical than they were at the time of your hiring.
Ultimately you have to decide if you are going to provide the references, but I know that I always ask if the friend or former colleague wants to be contacted in the first place. Were I in your situation I would respectfully decline with something like "I value my friends' time and don't believe this would serve any useful purpose." If what they are asking for is merely the name of the employer, you can provide that as it isn't a big deal. But I'd refrain from providing actual names of people who might get pestered for some pointless reason.
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Where did the immediate assumption of redundancy come from? The question is strange yes..but i dont see the conmection. – morbo Aug 31 '19 at 21:03
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@morbo from the asker's follow-up comments on the question – Joseph Sible-Reinstate Monica Sep 1 '19 at 3:36
Putting my cynic's hat on for a moment, I wonder if this is an attempt to find something from your past to show you did something like lied on a resume, which would mean they could terminate you without any compensation.
Before giving references I would ask what the purpose of the references is. It's a reasonable question - if they just want to verify employment details then you can direct them to HR for your previous companies. If they want to get a references for your quality and behaviour you can reasonable ask what possible purpose that would have. At the least it would be amusing to hear their justification. However refusing at this stage is probably counterproductive. It might give them the excuse they want to fire you with cause instead of laying you off.
If you can provide two people who you know are going to give you excellent references, I would provide them. Alternatively it might be worth giving them what they ask, just very slowly. It should be pretty easy to take four weeks to contact the references you want and get them to agree. Once you have left, and received your redundancy payout, it's going to be a lot harder for them to claw it back for some reason.
As for consequences if you are too slow, this seems like a classic use of "What are they going to do - fire you?"
answered Aug 30 '19 at 21:28
If they try to make you redundant, and cite the lack of references as a reason, get an employment lawyer. There are plenty around, just use Google to find one.
Consider that the statute of limitations in the UK is five or six year. Eight years is past that. Nobody can expect you to know anyone from that long ago. In my case, only one company that I worked for in the last 32 years is in existence anymore, so I couldn't possibly give you two different references before my current job!
If you think they are out to get you, just tell them (in writing) that you gave them references when you started. If they don't have them, they must have lost them. It's eight years ago. You didn't keep them, it's eight years ago. Your employment lawyer will love this and make them pay.
answered Aug 30 '19 at 22:27
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3"Consider that the statute of limitations in the UK is five or six year" - please forgive my ignorance, but for what? – user25792 Aug 30 '19 at 23:14
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1For many crimes, for recovering debt, for just about everything. The reason is that after six years, nobody who accuses you out of the blue can expect you to be able to defend yourself. Nobody can expect you to know anything about references you gave eight years ago or people you worked with eight years ago – gnasher729 Aug 31 '19 at 12:46
