{"id":4770,"date":"2018-09-28T14:52:03","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T14:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/?p=4770"},"modified":"2024-11-19T19:36:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T19:36:36","slug":"employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\/","title":{"rendered":"The Employment Tribunal Strikes Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An Employment Tribunal has ordered a pilot to repay \u00a34,725 in training costs after it emerged that he provided a fake reference using the name of a character from Star Wars \u2013 Mr Desilijic Tiure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of us who are not Star Wars fans, this is another name for the slug-like character Jabba the Hutt, the de facto leader of the Desilijic-Hutt Cartel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of Francis-McGann v West Atlantic UK Limited<\/a>, it transpired that not only had the pilot, Mr Francis-McGann, given a false reference from the Star Wars character but had also lied about his employment history, claiming to have worked as a Captain when in fact he had only occupied the position of First Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the pilot was challenged by his employers, he initially denied such claims but ultimately largely admitted them. The pilot was then offered the opportunity to resign by West Atlantic, which he did \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsequently, the pilot made a claim against West Atlantic for three months\u2019 notice pay, being his contractual entitlement had he resigned with notice rather than \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d. West Atlantic therefore counter-claimed for the recovery of his training costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a damning decision, Judge Broughton dismissed the pilot\u2019s claim for notice pay, stating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c\u2026the meaning of the words \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d is clear and unambiguous. As a result, the claimant must have known what he was agreeing to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Regarding West Atlantic\u2019s counterclaim Judge Broughton concluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe claimant had expressly confirmed in writing by a credit agreement\u2026 that such [training] costs were recoverable should his employment end within the first six months.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a further warning, the Tribunal indicated that it had considered making a costs order against the pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is perhaps an extreme example of the need for honesty by employees when it comes to references, but as Jabba the Hutt\u2019s history might have shown, dishonesty really doesn\u2019t pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For employment advice and information, call solicitor Karen Cole<\/a> today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: This article is not legal advice; it provides information of general interest about current legal issues.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pilot who provided a fake reference from a Star Wars villain has been ordered to repay his training costs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-4770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-story","tag-employment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReference - The Employment Tribunal Strikes Back | RIAA Barker Gillette UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A pilot who provided a fake reference from a Star Wars villain has been ordered to repay his training costs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Employment Tribunal Strikes Back\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A pilot who provided a fake reference from a Star Wars villain has been ordered to repay his training costs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RIAA Barker Gillette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RIAABGUK\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-28T14:52:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-19T19:36:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/05\/RBG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Penny Dewar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@riaa_bg_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@riaa_bg_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Penny Dewar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Penny Dewar\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0e3d73d743e31ec07d49b93ad348a6c\"},\"headline\":\"The Employment Tribunal Strikes Back\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-28T14:52:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-19T19:36:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":333,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Employment\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News Story\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/employment-tribunal-strikes-back-on-fake-reference\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reference - 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