Internal investigation by Employer

[4807]

I spent most of last year under investigation by the internal complaints department of my local authority employer. Keeping a long story very short I was the subject of a false and malicious complaint made by one of my colleagues who alleged that I had indecently assaulted her at work on two unspecified occasions during a period of about 18 months. She stated that I had done so in front of numerous other colleagues (none of whom unsurprisingly could corroborate her account). All of the alleged witnesses were interviewed. At the end of a very protracted and personally damaging enquiry I was notified that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a case against me.
No action has been taken against the complainant whatsoever because I can't 'prove' that the alleged assaults DIDN'T happen. Despite there being insufficient evidence the matter was finalised by way of a discipline entry being made against me documenting that I had been spoken to and advised about my conduct. I have been advised that I have no right of appeal in respect of this discipline entry.
I totally understand the need for my employer to investigate such allegations - even malicious ones - but I cannot accept the very 'public' (within the organisation) and insensitive way in which the matter was investigated which resulted in my reputation and good name being dragged through the mud to a significantly greater extent than was necessary or justified. During the investigation various other female colleagues were questioned - who were neither 'victims' of or 'witnesses' to any of the alleged complaints - in order to establish whether or not they had been subject to any inappropriate behaviour by myself. In other words the investgators simply went on a 'fishing trip' to see whether or not they could dig up any 'dirt' on me which would add weight to the unfounded allegations made by the original complainant. That , in my eyes , cannot be justified and I would not have thought it to be legal ? I have disputed this point with a senior manager who has advised me that he feels the investigators had every right to interview all of these other people in the interests of carrying out a 'thourough' investigation - despite the obvious damage to my reputation which has been caused as a result. I disagree and I am determined to challenge - not the fact that the matter was investigated (the necessity of which I fully accept) - the way in which the investigation was carried out.
I would be very grateful if anybody could advise me as to whether or not I have any grounds for complaint , how I should go about pursuing a complaint and point me in the right direction regarding any relevant legislation etc. Thanks.

[GlasweJen]

this sounds like victimisation but i'm not sure, you could always give ACAS a call and see what they think?

[Rooster-UK]

Originally Posted by Jenschnifer

this sounds like victimisation but i'm not sure, you could always give ACAS a call and see what they think?

I agree. I think that it would be the best way to proceed.

[4807]

Ok thanks for the advice.

[gizmo111]

Call me naive - but isn't sexual assault (as opposed to harrasment) a police matter?

[Bigbearuk]

I agree with gizmo indecent assault is a police issue and not something that should be investigated my the internal complaints department unless they are from the police force or armed forces.

How can they add anything to you file if there was insufficient evidence regarding the allegations

Have they stated how long this will appear on your file? and weather it's a warning if they have then it should only be there for 1 year.

[cal37]

If its just a note on your file stating that an investigation was carried out, then they have a right to do so.

However if this note on file is part of an disciplinary then you DO have the right of appeal.You say it states you were spoken too about your conduct?

take this matter up with an employment lawyer asap

[4807]

Neither the complainant or the employer wanted to pursue the matter criminally (probably because there was no evidence and they would never have got a criminal case of the ground in a million years) so they elected to go down the 'civil' route of misconduct where , as it appears they can basically just make it up as they go along , put an entry in a book to say that I've been spoken to and advised and then brush it all under the carpet. The allegation , by the way , was that I had previously touched her bottom (time/date unknown etc.). Not happy but there doesn't seem much point in causing any more waves - just very annoying. Thanks for the various threads and advice etc.

[boaz]

From reading your initial post I would say that your best route would to be contact your union. If you are not in a union I would strongly advise you to join. As a former Trade Union Official the one thing I can tell you with a degree of certainty is that your employer will have in place a 'Grievance Procedure.
You said in your second post that you did not want to cause any more waves, but hold on you are the one that was falsely accused, dragged through a investigation/disciplinary procedure and found that there was no case to answer.
As employment law works on the basis of 'the balance of probability' rather than 'beyond reasonable doubt'. It would be hard for any employer to to bring themselves as the employer to investigate this person for misconduct or gross misconduct, UNLESS you yourself or another person make a formal grievance complaint against her for her malicious actions.
You stated that you felt that investigators went on a fishing trip to dig the dirt on you. Unfortunately this one of the methods used to establish if you carried out the alleged actions 'on the balance of probability' by trying to establish if you had said or done anything similar previous to the allegations.Likewise as a Union Rep, I myself have tried to dig the dirt when it was in the interest of my member. It a tactic often used by both sides.

On the point of the entry to your disciplinary record. Your manager is correct that it cannot be just removed. For this to happen you would need to appeal, however this must be done within 30 days of the outcome of the original case.

What ever you decide is your choice and I wish you luck and if you want any more help or advice feel free to PM me or reply through your thread.

On a final note, personally myself I would pursue the grievance route. With the benefit of hindsight and experience I can state that managers especially within the public sector are bad at carrying out disciplinary investigations and procedures. You are taking a lay person and expecting to carry our the job of policeman,prosecutor, judge and jury and in some cases executioner. All without the relevant experience and knowledge.

Whilst Union Reps are also lay persons we tend to benefit from advice from our own Trade Union lawyers and full time officers.

You only have to look at the number of cases where employees have felt unfairly dismissed or discriminated against and it has gone to an Employment Tribunal. In some cases, around 10% an employee wins their case outright. A very low number and worrying to anyone considering taking a ET out. However some 73% of cases are withdrawn or in many instances settled to avoid the employer ending up with egg on their face, due to incompetence by their managers in not following statutory procedure.

What ever you decide I wish you well.

Unity Is Strength

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Originally Posted by gizmo111

Call me naive - but isn't sexual assault (as opposed to harrasment) a police matter?

Both are.

However, I worked in a place a few years ago where there was a harassment case ongoing and the complainant also went to the police as the firm were seemingly dragging their feet over it.

Although noted by the police no crime number was issued and they said they were going to wait the outcome of the company investigation and decide then whether to do anything!

[silou]

I hope you are in a union because I think you really could do with their advice to sort this out, although given whats happened to you so far I would be very surprised if you've had union involvement and they've allowed this to happen. Firstly if your employer has entered anything onto your personal file that they are terming as 'disciplinary' then you do have the right to appeal against it. Employers cannot just add whatever notes they choose to your file after something like this without giving you a right to appeal against it. If they didn't feel that there was enough evidence to take any action against you then that should be it, end of and no notes on file. With regard to the original allegation if you feel that it was malicious then you would need to raise a grievance against your colleague for it to be dealt with, thats the only way your employer would be able to deal with it. The same with the way the investigation was carried out, if your not happy about how public it was all made then a grievance is the way to go. Lastly if the damage to your reputation etc has now made it difficult for you to continue working there, and I can imagine that the necessary trust between you and your employer may well have been damaged by all this, then my advice would be to lodge these grievances and enter into the procedure because you might find that your employer would be happy to 'pay you off' (if thats what you wanted) to avoid dealing with this mess, thus enabling you to put all this behind you and go find work elsewhere (this is not unheard of within local authorities).
Just my opinion but hope it helps.