£30,000 for reference fiasco

Some cases just want to make you slap people for being so stupid. Seg Naicker v Stirling Council & Edinburgh City Council is such a case. The Claimant used to work for Stirling Council and left them having presented Tribunal race claims which were settled under a compromise agreement. This agreement contained an agreed reference. The employee applied to join Edinburgh Council. From the press report it appears an officer at Stirling called her opposite number at Edinburgh and warned them that the Claimant was a difficult person. Edinburgh turned him down for the job. Result: £20k from Stirling, £10k from Edinburgh. This is a major wake up call for HR departments on the management of agreed references. Just because the organisation has officially made its peace with the employee it is still at risk if another employee decides to gab off to someone seeking a reference. Also note that here that both former and prospective employers were liable for race victimisation.