Rogue Agent

[pootle]

Does anyone know who to report a rogue agent to - My situation is that I conducted a short term contract 2 years ago and the corresponding agent has stated "It is not our company policy to provide references". This information is necessary for my screening company who have declared the agent's response illegal. Obviously I will be striking this contract from my CV; however it leaves a slight gap and the agent has complied (allegedly) upon previous reference requests. Any advice appreciated.

[SueEllen]

The agent's response isn't illegal.

There is no law in England and Wales where you are forced either as a company or individual to provide references for companies or individuals that have worked for you either as an employee, temp, any other form of worker or service provider.

There is custom and practise in some industries that references will be supplied in nearly all cases, however if you are in IT this doesn't apply.

In addition some companies to ensure they will not get sued will only provide dates of work and no more.

[pootle]

The agent's response isn't illegal.

There is no law in England and Wales where you are forced either as a company or individual to provide references for companies or individuals that have worked for you either as an employee, temp, any other form of worker or service provider.

There is custom and practise in some industries that references will be supplied in nearly all cases, however if you are in IT this doesn't apply.
In addition some companies to ensure they will not get sued will only provide dates of work and no more.

The agent would not in this instance would not even provide the dates which is all the screening company were asking for. Fortunately I could provide a line managers name to confirm the dates, and I understood that the DTI were a potential port of call to report or enquire about - malpractice

[SueEllen]

The agent would not in this instance would not even provide the dates which is all the screening company were asking for.

There is no law forcing them to.

Fortunately I could provide a line managers name to confirm the dates, and I understood that the DTI were a potential port of call to report or enquire about - malpractice

The DTI will do F all.

BTW I bet the agent has been threatened with being sued by someone for a reference they provided before which is why they are refusing to provide even dates.

[northernladuk]

Malpractice? You want to go look up the meaning of the word before trying to throw it around. It is a type of negligence and not giving out a refrence is hardly negligence is it?

Have a look at this..

Giving references | Law Donut

1. Giving no references
One option is to refuse, as a matter of policy, to give references for any employee – you are not under any obligation to do so unless your employee's contract of employment explicitly states that you will. But this is unusual, and inconvenient for your employees and ex-employees. Failure to give a reference, without any explanation, can also imply that you have had problems with the employee. This could give rise to claims that you have discriminated against them – on grounds of sex, age, race, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief, for example. They could also argue that you have broken the term of mutual trust and confidence that is implied in every employee’s contract of employment. So, if you have a policy of not giving references, respond to each request for a reference with a specific statement that it is not your policy to give them, to avoid misunderstandings.

[thunderlizard]

"Hello, is that Rogue Agency Limited? Splendid. I'm interested in engaging the services of a Mr Pootle, whom I believe you have on your books, and will of course pay you whatever you deem to be a reasonable fee. Can you arrange that for me? You can? Lovely. Just one little thing first: I need a little reference from you regarding the dates when you previously used the services of Mr Pootle, or else my director won't sign it off...hold on, give me a chance to pick up my pen!"

[JSP]

"Hello, is that Rogue Agency Limited? Splendid. I'm interested in engaging the services of a Mr Pootle, whom I believe you have on your books, and will of course pay you whatever you deem to be a reasonable fee. Can you arrange that for me? You can? Lovely. Just one little thing first: I need a little reference from you regarding the dates when you previously used the services of Mr Pootle, or else my director won't sign it off...hold on, give me a chance to pick up my pen!"

[pootle]

From the Law Donut article:

"One option is to refuse, as a matter of policy, to give references for any employee – you are not under any obligation to do so unless your employee's contract of employment explicitly states that you will. But this is unusual, and inconvenient for your employees and ex-employees. Failure to give a reference, without any explanation, can also imply that you have had problems with the employee. This could give rise to claims that you have discriminated against them."

I personally believe this constitutes negligence seeing as my new role was on the line because of the agent's behaviour.

[eek]

This could give rise to claims that you have discriminated against them."

I personally believe this constitutes negligence seeing as my new role was on the line because of the agent's behaviour.

He never employed you he contracted services for a third party from a company that provided you (or a substitute assuming it was an IR35 friendly contract) as a service.

While you are angry and annoyed I can foresee a very large legal bill and you looking like a laughing stock closely followed by a very interesting and expensive IR35 investigation.

If the agent is vindictive the latter could occur anyway.

[northernladuk]

From the Law Donut article:

"One option is to refuse, as a matter of policy, to give references for any employee – you are not under any obligation to do so unless your employee's contract of employment explicitly states that you will. But this is unusual, and inconvenient for your employees and ex-employees. Failure to give a reference, without any explanation, can also imply that you have had problems with the employee. This could give rise to claims that you have discriminated against them."

I personally believe this constitutes negligence seeing as my new role was on the line because of the agent's behaviour.

You seriously need to grow some kahuna's and see the bigger picture rather than trying to pick on tiny bits of information without understanding what you are talking about!!

You highlight the last line without reading the sentence before it that says failure to give a reference without any explaination. He has given you one, it isn't their policy.