Reference time limit....??

[james_law]

I've been working a job now for 2 weeks, I had an induction then commenced work the following day. I was notified in the 2nd interview, around 5 days before i had my induction, that i would need references (however no emphasise was placed on the fact that these were fundamental to me being offered the job). One of my previous employers declined to give me a reference, however, I had informed the person conducting the interview this may happen. So taking me up to present i have received a job offer which is conditional on 2 satisfactory references. The HR department still have not contacted any of my references.

1). can my job still be revoked and be told to leave or is my references actually irrelevant now?
2) is there a time limit that for my employer to gain references to satisfy my conditional job offer?

Thanks in advance.

[mariefab]

1. You (and everyone else in the UK) can be dismissed for no reason at all during the first 2 years of employment. Whether, or not, HR ever chases up on the references is entirely up to them.
2. No.

[james_law]

1. You (and everyone else in the UK) can be dismissed for no reason at all during the first 2 years of employment. Whether, or not, HR ever chases up on the references is entirely up to them.
2. No.

So your submitting that an employer 23 months into your employment can just come up to you and say your not working here as from next week (or whatever notice period is in your contract) without no reason at all to why they are doing it???

My job is offered on the condition that I have two satisfactory references, so your saying that in theory they could just ignore my references then say hypothetically 5 years later something comes to light or they do not want me anymore, contact my references which come back unsatisfactory and then dismiss me.

Would it not reasonable that you would carry out the references before you employ someone, then upon commencing employment the references are actually irrelevant as you have now employed them?

Thanks in advance.

[mariefab]

So your submitting that an employer 23 months into your employment can just come up to you and say your not working here as from next week (or whatever notice period is in your contract) without no reason at all to why they are doing it???

Yes. Because (with a few exceptions like discrimination or asserting a statutory right) the law in this country is that you don't have the right to make an unfair dismissal claim unless you have 2 years of service.

so your saying that in theory they could just ignore my references then say hypothetically 5 years later something comes to light or they do not want me anymore, contact my references which come back unsatisfactory and then dismiss me.

No, not if they're just bad references.

Would it not reasonable that you would carry out the references before you employ someone, then upon commencing employment the references are actually irrelevant as you have now employed them?

Yes and Yes. But employers aren't legally required to be reasonable.

[jaguarsuk]

So your submitting that an employer 23 months into your employment can just come up to you and say your not working here as from next week (or whatever notice period is in your contract) without no reason at all to why they are doing it???

Yep and unless you can prove discrimination you have absolutely no rights to tribunal. Welcome to Tory Britain.

My job is offered on the condition that I have two satisfactory references, so your saying that in theory they could just ignore my references then say hypothetically 5 years later something comes to light or they do not want me anymore, contact my references which come back unsatisfactory and then dismiss me.

Hypothetically.

After 2 years you would have tribunal rights, so if it was after 5 years it would be likely there would be some other reason to show as to why they suddenly decided to take that course of action.

Would it not reasonable that you would carry out the references before you employ someone, then upon commencing employment the references are actually irrelevant as you have now employed them?

Now you're just talking common sense, which doesn't always go hand in hand with how people actually do things.

[james_law]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.