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Post Info TOPIC: RECEIVED A BAD REFERENCE FROM MY PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
Anonymous

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RECEIVED A BAD REFERENCE FROM MY PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
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About 3 years ago I used to work for an IT company in Sandton. I wasn't very happy there as firstly,  they lied to me about the salary. When I applied for the  position the salary was adverstised between R5000 - R6000. When I went for the interview they were only willing to offer me R3000 a month. Nevertheless I got the job and accepted the offer as I was unemployed at the time and didn't want to sit at home doing nothing. The other reason why I was unhappy there was that they treated me very unfairly and discriminated against me because I'm gay.  A year later I left the company without working notice, as they wanted to give me a disciplinary hearing because they found out that I was job hunting at the time.  I think that it was wrong of them to do this as no employer can stand in one's way of bettering his/her future and after all, they were at fault in the first place. Given my circumstances there, can you blame me for job hunting??   Even though I was unhappy there, I still worked very hard and perfomed reasonably well. I am now on the job market and I'm using various employment agencies. One of my  agencies called my previous employer for a reference and informed me what feeback they had received from my previous employer which was that, I was a lazy, bad worker with a bad attitude and that I had various issues and didn't perform properly. They also said that I had  received numerous written warnings(which is definitely NOT true) and that I absonded(which I did) because they wanted to give me a discplinary hearing for bad performance. What action can I take against my previous employer for providing false info? What my previous employer said about my work performance was not true.  I did abscond and I'm not going to deny that, but I only did it because they wanted to give me a disciplinary hearing for looking for a new job, which I think is ridiculous.   No employer can stand in the way of an employee seeking better employment. If they paid me a market related salary in the first place and never discriminated against me for being gay, I never would have left them. Any advise would be greatly appreciated?  

 



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Anonymous

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Firstly, you should have followed the proper labour law processes while you were with the previous employer, which would have protected you while you were in that situation.  If you were given a disciplinary hearing and subsequently dismissed for looking for another job, you would have been able to approach the CCMA with a complaint of unfair dismissal, and you could have received a sizeable financial payment for being unfairly dismissed.  Acting outside of labour law (resigning with no notice) is no way to fight a company who is acting outside the law. You should have stuck to your rights and relied on the protection of labour law.  But all of that aside, what is happening now fall within the ambit of defamation, and not labour law.  You will have to start building a 'paper trial' of your efforts to prevent the company from slandering you.  You need to address these complaints in writing to the company, and have proof that you sent it to them (registered mail of fax receipt etc).  You can also take the additional step of approaching an attorney to also do the same.  The reasons for this is to have proof on paper that you are having these difficulties with this company.  When you go to another recruitment agent, you can provide them copies of your own efforts against the company, as well as the efforts of your attorney.  If the company then persists, you will have a good basis to that them on in a civil court for defamation.  You can get affidavits by the recruitment agents, and your letters tot he company to strengthen your case.  Hopefully, they will stop after your letter and the matter will die a quiet death.  Unfortunately it is very difficult to force someone to stop doing something.  The only way is through a court interdict, which will be very expensive. 

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