Forced to resign! help please

Hi all,

I have been full-time employed for the last 14 years, with my current company since May 2017.

At the beginning of July this year I was called into a meeting whereby I was asked to resign immediately or be 'sacked'. This was completely out of the blue and was a massive shock as every performance review I have been told that I'm doing well and to keep up the good work.

On asking for a few minutes outside to consider my options I was told that the decision had to be made before I left the room.

I was told that if I 'play the game' then they would write me a good reference and if I didn't then they could potentially 'as a company policy, refuse to do references'.

I asked for a piece of paper and wrote my resignation as instructed.

I was immediately put on 2 months garden leave but as it was the start of the summer holidays it has been a nightmare trying to find something else – still nothing confirmed and very stressed now, making me physically ill at times with worry.

Any comments would be gratefully appreciated as I can't help thinking there is something untoward with the way it was handled…

Many thanks,