Bullying at work

[madjenny1]

Hi I would be really grateful of any help or advice anyone can offer...Ok its long but I will try and keep just to the main points..

My husband works for a large british company...whilst carrying out his normal work daily duties, he was followed and photographed by two other employees..must say, it was not the job of these individuals to did this and they were infact in there own time, although using company equipment. The photos in quesiton were emailed all around my husbands company and were used to give my husband a warning, I must add the photographs only showed he was at the site, which he never denied, but didnt show the act which he was convicted of???..Anyway the two employees still continued to follow him worked..etc...this caused so much stress to him and our family that he decided to bring a bullying and harrassement case against them...it took over a year and in that time he was told he was a trouble maker, bascially his life was made hell by everyone now including management...however the case was dealt with by a management company and they found the two employees as well as my husbands manager, guilty of bullying and harrassement and also in breach of the data protection act. Great result. However they were all give just a slap on the wrist, (a verbal warning)...the harrassment has now restarted, we spoke to the union and they are saying there is no more we can do. My family has been through hell over the last 12 months. Surely there is more we can do?..how is this fair?..The union are saying he is not entitled to damages and now forget about it...how can we?...

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, just need some clarification of this situation.

Why were these employees following your husband to take photos if he was just going about his normal duties?
What exactly was he accused of?

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

[madjenny1]

Hi...To answer your question, we really dont know why they followed him. They said in their statements they followed him, as they thought he might not shut his job down properly when he was finished working, this was only their opinion and all before he had finishing working...they later went back to photograph his work, reporting he had not closed the job, pls note they had to open the job to photograph it. He was accussed of failing to close a job to the required standards. My husband said in his defence, if they would take it upon themselves to go to all this trouble in their own time, for what outcome, couldnt it of been them that left the work open, his company for whatever reason sided with the "bullies", although a management investigation team, found their actions to be harrasment, although as I stated they received less of a punishment???..all help or advice really appreciated....tks

[madjenny1]

Anyone?..any help or advice at all?..pls...

[Sidewinder]

The only real advice that can be offered as with so many other employment matters is in the first instance to put a grievance in writing expressing disappointment that having been exonerated of any wrongdoing in the past, and having had to resort to formal action in order to do so that your husband is again on the receiving end of behaviour which is causing him distress. You consider that this behaviour is a clear case of bullying and harassment in the workplace and that you feel that the company should take whatever action is neccessary to bring it to an end.

Ultimately your husband could go through a process whereby the a failure to act could cause him to feel unable to continue working there and you may then have grounds for a case of constructive dismissal, however this is very difficult to prove and any damages are very limited. Unfortunately, damages are out of the question for 'mental stress' caused by bullying unless he is dismissed unfairly or is forced to leave, so in that respect the Union are correct, however they should be a little more supportive in protecting his interests in the workplace IMO.

[1stlifeline]

You and your husband have my sympathy. We have a similar situation. My O/H works for a large British company and has been there ten years without any problems. Then they got a new manager. This manager has been moved 4 times that we know of because of complaints against him. After seriously making O/Hs life a misery at work he started a harrasment/bullying case againt him. He had the union involved and the company medice and his own doctor signed him off with stress.
After a very long drawn out process the complaint was not upheld but they did agree that he should not have to work with the same manager and agreed to transfer him. However the nearest available transfer was 30 miles away.
His manager then asked to speak to him and said 'lets let bygones be bygones and start afresh'. O/H thought things were sorted and didnt really want to change ofices so they shook hands and he stayed.
Since then his life has been a misery again, this guy is so crafty. Without giving too much away about the job, they have a set time to do certain things and can be on a different area each day. He will tell him he is working on one area and then when he has sorted the jobs out for that area and done the prep work he takes him off it and gives him a new area so he has to start again. Hes always very careful to watch what he says when there are witnesses. Its obvious that its retaliation for starting the grievence against him. The union have backed my partner but there is only so much they can do. This guy gets away with mujrder, the company know of his record but it seems 30 years service lets you get away with anything.

[madjenny1]

Hi firstlifeline..so sorry to hear about your position, I know exactly how you feel and its terrible these bullies shouldnt be able to get away with this type of behaviour...We went and saw a lawyer today to see if we could take the matter further, he said if the bullying was due to race or sex, then we would have a "massive" case?...surely bullying is bullying for whatever reason. The only option left to us is to take the company/bullies through the county court, at a cost of £10K!!!!!...money we dont have, I feel sick to my stomach, these bullies can do this to us, be found guilty of 2 gross misconduct charges and breach of the data protection act and just get a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue. seems workers have no rights anymore!

[colgate01]

Hi there,
It makes me sad that so many people experience really unreasonable treatment at work and nothing is done about the perpetrators. It seems so unfair. I am sorry that your husband is continuing to have such a miserable time at work. Has he thought about looking for a new job? I know it sounds defeatist but I feel he will continue to be victimized for any past or future grievances raised and it can't be good for him or you?

[kfdh1962]

if the company took action against these individuals under the disciplinary process,even though it was only verbal, then surely they should take this to the next stage of teh disciplinary as a repeat offence.. or has the curency of the warning expired?

[kfdh1962]

Originally Posted by madjenny1

Hi firstlifeline..so sorry to hear about your position, I know exactly how you feel and its terrible these bullies shouldnt be able to get away with this type of behaviour...We went and saw a lawyer today to see if we could take the matter further, he said if the bullying was due to race or sex, then we would have a "massive" case?...surely bullying is bullying for whatever reason. The only option left to us is to take the company/bullies through the county court, at a cost of £10K!!!!!...money we dont have, I feel sick to my stomach, these bullies can do this to us, be found guilty of 2 gross misconduct charges and breach of the data protection act and just get a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue. seems workers have no rights anymore!

issue of race, ethnicity, age sexual orientation, religion disability or sex are all unlawful strands of discrimination. It would seem to me that your o/h situation is one discrimination by means of harassment/victimisation as a result of him previously taking action against them.. Either way, the first step would be to lodge a formal grievance in writing which the company would be obliged to deal with. This is a course of action that you will have to take if you eventually go to tribunal for constructive dismissal if my understanding is correct.