Nursery World - Nursery Management: References

Ofsted wants nurseries to seek staff references – but an employer was recently sued for providing a negative one. Beena Nadeem investigates how settings can weigh up the options

Answering a phone call about a reference was all it took for two different employers to face discrimination claims. The recent case of Rajinder Pnaiser (see box, overleaf) should act as a cautionary tale to anyone who is thinking about discussing a written reference over the phone.

In this 2015 case, a job offer was retracted after the call discussed the candidate’s extensive sickness record. What was unfortunate for the past and potential employers was that the absences in question were linked to the candidate’s disability. What resulted was a costly lesson: there is no upper cap when it comes to discrimination cases.

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