Lost Job Opportunity Due To Bad Reference! What Can I Do?

I recently went for a job screening and was successful to get to the interviews.
In my opinion the interview went well, and they clearly thought so too seeing as how they offered me the job and sent me paperwork to fill out and bring with me. I was beyond happy to finally have a job after searching for 9 months. I was due to start my induction day on the 22nd October at 10am, however at about 8:15am I receive a phone call from the man who held the screening. I was told not to even bother going as someone had given me a bad reference, so I lost the contract for the job.

Does anyone know what I can do about this?

I was informed that it is against the law for previous employers to give bad references and I should sue, but I was wondering if there was another option?

It isn't against the law, but the former employers know better that give a "bad" reference. Usually all they will do is verify information. One question that can make or break a job offer is, "Is he/she eligible for rehire?" You should speak to a labor attorney to see if you have a civil case, which may be hard to prove. Unfortunately, a bad reference is not illegal.

Just to add to what DIRI has said, in the future probably the way to mitigate this risk is to provide a specific human resource specialist working at the companies you suspect will be negative.

This person is most trained to provide the information that is acceptable but will not come back to bite that company in a bad way. Tell the potential employer this is the name the company requested you use.

After preparing for this job offered, putting your job search on hold, and emotionally going up and then down I think you damn well deserve to know the company who is black balling you.

"onwards and upwards"!

macky

I agree what was said above. Also research the company again to see if this is a company you still want to work for. Companies can change. This may not be the company you may not want to work for and also find out what company gave you the bad reference. There may be an error in your personal record from your former employer. Something you may have done may have been misunderstood. The company that you were to be hired saw something in you that they liked before the bad reference.

Do you have an idea who may have given you the bad reference?

Thanks for all your answers, in the UK it is against the law to give bad references now. Well before i wasn't sure who it was but today I found out who exactly it was, however I have to be careful with how I deal with it because they are a well known charity and I'm not to sure if it changes anything, with it being a charity??