Cousin 5 years with co and cant get ref

Hi! My cousin was five years with a company and can't get a ref. He left after two years of, what I suppose would be described as harrassment by his manger. His health detriorated, depression etc. and he felt forced to leave.

He has not worked now for almost a year. He just go another job in the insurance field. However, his ex employer won't give him a ref. He has also found out from a colleague at his old company that his boss rang two of his previous employers and said very negative things about him.

Is there anything that my cousin can do. The ex colleague who gave that information doesn't want to get more involved in what's happening - and I can understand that.

Has anyone ever come up against this before.

You can't force anyone to give you a reference. Is it in any way possible that the boss is correct in his negative assessment of your cousin's work?

That was my first thought as well.

Seems odd they would keep someone they wouldn't give a ref for, for 5yrs.

Cousin

Hi! Everyone, thanks for the replies.

I don't think it's my cousin's work, as he got an award last year from the group he's employed by. This problem with his boss/manager has been going on even before that.

I think he's going to ask another manager/colleague for a reference.

And is this the person he asked for the reference from?

If he has, for example, that award and perhaps also annual review paperwork showing good performance then he could perhaps try and use that in place of a reference? Does the company not have a HR department and has he spoken to them and asked them for written confirmation that they are not prepared to provide a reference? At the least he might be able to get a one-line letter from them confirming that he was employed as x from date to date. The first company I worked for didn't provide written references and that's all I got from them. They would give slightly more on the phone in a follow-up call to that but were a very lawsuit-nervous type of place and just didn't want to get involved in situations with a potentially disgruntled ex-employee who wasn't happy with what they said.

To be honest, if the company don't want to give him a reference, he may be better off without trying to force them into it. A not very enthusiastic reference could be worse than none at all.

He should approach HR, if it's not his work performance then they could supply reference but if it was his work they may well side with his boss, alawys two side to a story and people only tell us their side, not saying that your cousin is in the wrong, but as a manager I can say I on a small few occasions have had poor work performance by employees blamed on the interaction of the manager, some people can be difficult. But if this not the case for your cousin then defo he should contact the HR dept directly.

Where I worked managers are not allowed to give references for this exact reason, to prevent personal bias, all references come from hr and are generic, ie. mr x worked at abc ltd since 01/01/01. There are no disciplinary issues on his file.
Regards mr hr.

The matter of references not being provided and statements of employment being the norm is already discussed here.

If he has just gotten another job why does he need the reference from his old employer?

Cousin can't get ref

Hi! Thanks for all the replies.

My cousin got a ref from a colleague manager who was really happy to give it to him. Also his ex boss from 5 years ago gave him one, and he has now waiting for a start date.

Luckily everything is working out, but just one person could have made things very difficult for him. My cousin is in his 50s and was worred that there might not be too many more jobs out there for him because of his age.

Your cousin should send a solictors letter to the company and that manager for defamation of character. That would shake that guy up .