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My wife recently walked out of her job. I know it is unprofessional, but she was had been working at the post office for 10 years and was being treated like muck by her incompetent manager. She was basically on a zero hours contract as her manager would ring and say "can you come in today" OR "we don't need you today" ..
Cut a long story short, she would work 6 hours straight and when asked if she could have five minutes to eat some food she would be told "oh, if you must. But be quick" and if she ever called in sick which was very rare indeed (didn't get sick pay) she would be accused by her manager of lying.
Totally unprofessional. Anyhow, she snapped just before Christmas and walked out. My daughter and I patted her on the back and told her well done. I would never expect anyone to be treated in such a way and I would have walked years ago.
Trouble is, said manager is a vindictive **** and my wife is worried she will either not give a reference or will do her up most to make life difficult.
What options does she have?
Be honest with any interviewer about why you left the previous job and explain why you don't think a reference from the ex-manager is appropriate. Any potential employer who isn't sympathetic to that probably isn't somewhere you'd want to work anyway.
What NickC says. Her old employer doesn't have to give a reference but if they do it has to factual.
On a side not unless you work more than 6 hours in a day you're not entitled to a break.
pick someone else to give the reference from company and/or just name HR
or insert a short term xmas job [ that was not zero hours and was promised to be FT and not temp but you were let down hence job seeking and use that as the reference - assuming you have a friend who will play ball.
Sounds like a half decent case for constructive dismissal.
IANAL
If she works for the post office they will probably have a system whereby all references have to go through hr and will be factual to the point of uselessness - sort of, "yes he/she worked here and didn't nick anything afaik".
Just to add, anything put in a reference which can be demonstrated to be untrue/conjecture/exaggerated is subject to the liable laws with associated damages. Which is why most references are so bland. A vindictive reference is not a good idea for either the company or the manager.
Don't give the manager as a point of contact for a reference, put down the post office HR department.
Unfortunately, although it's the Post Office it's for a privately run branch.
She tried that. Bumped into an old line manager who she respected the other week and she said "Yeah, no problem. happy to give a reference" Subsequently, she hasn't heard from her. My wife thinks she has spoken to the current manager ...pick someone else to give the reference from company and/or just name HR
Do you have a legal right to view a reference that was given?
Half tempted to get the wife to apply for a fictitious job to test what reference is given.
Most companies I know (in finance) now give a bland referemce confirming dates employed and job titile. Anything else is a potential legal liability for no upside. Don't saeat the reference, follow advice above. Good luck.
Whenever I have done references for staff the only questions were asking to confirm they were employed by me and what their dates of employment were.
The most damning reference a company can give is to decline to give a reference.
And as someone above said they have to be factual or it can lead to legal action. Hence the limited question set most companies ask.
Do you have a legal right to view a reference that was given?
Data Protection, innit.
References can't be hidden from the employee.
My wife recently walked out of her job. I know it is unprofessional, but she was had been working at the post office for 10 years and was being treated like muck by her incompetent manager. She was basically on a zero hours contract as her manager would ring and say "can you come in today" OR "we don't need you today" ..
Technically she is still working her notice period, she just isn't able to do the hours requested 😉
As far as I remember (and I could be wrong as it's been many years since I worked in the murky world of recruitment) it's against employment practices law to give a predjudicial reference, which is why most companies these days simply confirm dates of employment and job title. At most they'll go as far as confirming duties and if you were subject to any disciplinaries, but isn't typical as it opens them up to liability. I genuinely wouldn't worry about the reference, however it would be standard for an interviewer to ask why you have left the last job so worth thinking about a well reasoned answer for this - I would suggest honesty is the best policy whilst not being overly negative / critical of your former employer - just state the facts
I would expect that in a large organisation the reference would come from the HR department, and that is who you'd list on job apps.
Personally I would of handed in written notice, then ignored the requests to work shifts, just to tick the right boxes. They may not of even bothered offering shifts if the role involved handling money / mail.
Some 0 hours contracts have availability requirements that if you don't meet you can be dismissed, so it could be that they are waiting for your wife to hit the threshold before dismissing her? So get the written notice in before then.
Things like breaks should be inline with your employers policy, which should all be available to employees (staff handbook) it shouldn't matter if you have a 0 or 70 hour contract the company policy needs to be applied across the board. Agency workers / contractors are a different story.
There's little to no loyalty within large companies, know your rights and be ****ing militant if they get infringed upon, if you dont you'll be trampled on by arseholes.
Ask for the reference, as above, it will probably come from the hr dep and be facts only.
If you don't feel it's helpful, don't use it.
Cv's often state "references on request" so choose the appropriate professional and personal referees to support her accurately .
What's your wife's presence on social media like? My company is more likely to take more notice from the social media sweeps it does of all potential employees than any reference it might get.
References are usually requested by the company rather than handed over by the candidate - anyone could have written it. Most companies policy these days is to not provide references, just confirm the employment period. When i'm interviewing external candidates I wouldn't bother with references. I certainly wouldn't ask for them.
I work for a large corporate so caveat based on no experience on zero hour.
Advice would be for your wife to formally resign in writing as soon as possible to formalise the end of contractual working arrangement.
Worst case scenario is she could be considered to be in breach of contract and thus open to instant dismissal through gross misconduct. References (ones we provide anyone) include length of service, job title and reason for termination where not through resignation or redundancy.
I don't think any of my references have been taken up in over a decade or two. The only companies that ask for them seem to be the ones that need to tick all the boxes in their HR process and then it's just a formality. Except gov defence/security related jobs where they do way more than just take up references, and I guess anything that needs CRB or whatever it's called now. Though having given references for these types of jobs they tend to focus more on character references than employer references that just confirm you worked there.
Make up a ficticious name for a company,and use a freinds address and ask your wifes employer for a reference for her, and see what the reference comes back for her.