Back in December I left my job due to my boss being rude and making little jokes out of my physical disability. I want to know how easy or difficult it would be to take any kind of action against them/the company for this? Also if a bad reference as a result of me leaving my position under this boss to my new employer was given that resulted in me losing the new job offer, would this change anything? Hope this makes sense.
4 comments
You’d have to discuss it with a legal expert really, but without any evidence it’ll be hard to prove.
As for a bad reference, they are not allowed to give one. The worst they can do is refuse to give a reference, which nowadays is as bad as not giving one really.
Unfortunately you only have 3 months less 1 day to raise a discrimination case at an Employment Tribunal so you are out of luck there.
If the reference they give about you is false you can take them to tribunal.
Contact ACAS for advice.
I got fired from my previous job due to mental health. I contacted ACAS & then a solicitor. It took about 6 months for a reasonable settlement offer to be made.
You’re probably past the time limit to start a claim, but it’s worth speaking to ACAS or an employment solicitor to confirm.
In any case, stuff like this is usually quite difficult to prove unless someone’s been stupid enough to put something in writing or treat you that way in front of someone who’s prepared to act as an independent witness through a lengthy court case.
Or, for example, you can demonstrate (with evidence) that you repeatedly asked for reasonable adjustments, weren’t given them, and were then fired for being unable to perform your role.
It isn’t illegal to give a bad reference – as long as what they’ve written is factually accurate that is. In practice most places will just limit a reference to “X worked here in Y role for 3 years from 2017-2020” to avoid the aggro.