A man has claimed he had his dream job offer rescinded after his potential employer read the reference supplied by his former boss - and deemed he was "unreliable".
Posting on Mumsnet, the 19-year-old man's mum said he recently applied for a job in a hotel abroad which offered him fantastic benefits, and he was over the moon when he was offered the job.
However, the offer came with the caveat that he send references from two previous employers - meaning he had to go back to an old boss who he had issues with to ask him for a reference.
The man's mum said he had previously held two jobs at the same time, and had one as his "main job" and the other - which was a zero-hour contract at a bar - was where he picked up odd shifts whenever he wasn't working his main job.
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But because he wasn't always available at the drop of a hat, his manager at the bar labelled him "unreliable" on his reference.
In her post, the man's mum said: "My 19-year-old was juggling 2 jobs. His main job was full-time in a restaurant. He also took on a secondary bar job. He was always clear with the bar job that the restaurant was his main job and that he could only work on days he was off at the restaurant. It was agreed he’d let them know each week the days he wasn’t at the restaurant. They were fine with this.
"However, the bar manager started putting him on days where he’s said he can’t work and insists he has to come in. He tried his absolute hardest not to let anybody down but it was impossible. This caused many nightmares at work, and he chose to prioritise his main job and handed his notice in at the bar.
"He was only there a month and did his job fine. It was also a job on a ‘casual’ basis without even a proper contract, and it was 0 hours. In my opinion, it works both ways - if you won’t even offer proper hours or a contract you can’t expect the employee to commit and prioritise you when they have another contracted job."
The man's mum then explained he had been offered the job at the hotel abroad, but it was taken back when they received the reference from the bar - as the manager had written a scathing reference.
She added: "He recently applied for a luxury hotel front desk agent job abroad, it was a brilliant opportunity with great pay, an amazing bonus scheme, training, accommodation, visa support, and career progression. They offered him the job.
"They wanted 2 employment references from 2 different jobs. As the bar and restaurant jobs are the only jobs he’s had, he had to list the bar down as one of the references. He thought that because he did the actual job well they’d be fine to just list a brief letter confirming he did indeed work there and performed his duties on the job.
"The hotel has rescinded his job offer after speaking to the bar. The bar has told the hotel that he just left without working notice, and so the hotel has decided he is unreliable. This is despite a glowing review from his other job."
Now, the man is "devastated", as he was eager to start his exciting new job in a foreign country.
The mum said: "My son is absolutely devastated. He has tried explaining the situation to the hotel but they don’t want to know. This one bloke in his 50s made a conscious decision to ruin what he knew was an amazing opportunity for a young lad that literally could have changed the course of his life. I find it unimaginably cruel.
"He truly is gutted, it was a job in his dream sector (he’d like to get into the hotel industry) in his dream country."
Can my employer give me a bad reference?
An employer doesn't have to give a work reference, but if they do, it has to be accurate and fair.
While it isn't inherently illegal to write a bad reference, Gov.uk states a worker may be able to challenge a reference they think is unfair or misleading.
The government website says: "If the worker thinks they’ve been given an unfair or misleading reference, they may be able to claim damages in a court. The previous employer must be able to back up the reference, such as by supplying examples of warning letters."
To challenge the reference, the worker must be able to show that it was misleading or inaccurate and show they "suffered loss" as a result - such as a job offer being withdrawn.
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