Slapdash email reference was unfair to employee

Employers should follow the advice of the three monkeys and hear, speak and see no evil when passing on information about former employees. Following a High Court ruling, a college has to pay damages to an ex-employee after sending a ‘negligent misstatement’ to a prospective future employer. In the case. art historian Mr McKie was sacked from his new job at the University of Bath after a bungled disciplinary hearing was triggered by an email from his former employer, Swindon College, Wiltshire.

The email from Robert Rowe, Swindon College’s human resources manager, to the University of Bath, read: “Further to our telephone conversation I can confirm to you that we would be unable to accept Rob McKie on our premises or delivering to our students. The reason for this is that we had very real safeguarding concerns for our students and there were serious staff relationship problems during his employment at this College. “No formal action was taken against Mr McKie because he had left our employment before this was instigated. I understand that similar issues arose at the City of Bath College.” The email arrived in June 2008 – almost six years after McKie had left Swindon College for other jobs at City of Bath College and Bristol City College.

Judge Denyer QC was critical of Swindon College, saying: “The procedure adopted at Swindon College giving rise to the sending of the email, can be described as slapdash, sloppy, failing to comply with any sort of minimum standards of fairness, certainly any such standards as would be recognised by any judicial body taking decisions and disseminating information about another individual, because Mr Rowe agreed he had no personal knowledge of things at all”. The judge further criticised the disciplinary hearing, as this was chaired by Dr Faith Butt of the university, who also sat on Swindon College’s board of governors. “The idea that she should have been part of a disciplinary process whilst being on the governing body of Swindon College, I find staggering,” said the judge. “It contradicts almost every rule, as it seems to me, about decision making in a quasi-judicial matter. There is a conflict of interest”.

The judge found in favour of McKie.

What is diversity? See http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/what-is-diversity

Do you want more than what Diversity Training can deliver? See Diversity at Work in the workplace http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/training-a-events